Yesterday our philosophy professor talked about phenamenology. Sorry about the spelling. I think he was trying to show his personal approach to "sharing his faith." He got his doctrite in Germany and I think he is around a lot of philosophy-heads so his approach is different. He started out by talking about faith as found in Hebrews 11 can actually be translated into "faithfullness" or "loyality" and that the faith discussed in that chapter does not have anything to do with belief but more to do with a way of life... being faithful to how God told us to live. Interesting.

So he sees "intellectual" discussion about religion as basically unfruitful. In large, probably, because he can see through all the intellectual twists one might do to argue for their faith. He witnesses by living in such a way that he is faithful to what God told him to do. He proposed that instead of trying to out-argue the other person he would, after some discussion and remaining interest, encourage the other person to "try on" Christianity for a month. Basically he would see if they would like to live as Christ directs in the New Testament and then see if they thought this was a good way to live. Good having the emphasis here because he describes God as the ultimate Good and sees us as gravitating to that Good. He then went on to say that the faith and works were pretty much inseperable (especially if having faith means living faithfully the way God told you to live) and that if someone started out living faithfully to the NT way of life then eventually their heart and intellect would follow.

What do you think?

Ok, we set up a new comments section. It is a bit different. Joshua R. If you read this we wouldn't mind some helpful hints. I bet you are very busy but if you have a moment some help would endear you to us greatly! *grin* I think you can still mess with our template.

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I have been thinking a lot about trusting God lately and what that means. This may be a silly example: I would like to have another baby while we are in Dallas (there are several reasons behind this). Sure, I can say that I trust God but can I really sit child-like waiting for Him to make things happen in the right time so that He can help us make the family He would like us to have? I find myself counting off nine months trying to figure out what would be best.

There are other examples too... too personal to share here.

I am also praying for Joy. Not that it isn't there... but my attitude is not there. Yesterday God was so real the prayers flowed and it was great conversation. It's been a while since that has happened and I miss it.

Looks like we will be going to Thailand for 3 months this summer. I will be able to work a little bit in a near-by hospital catching babies. I wonder what Thai birth customs are? More than that, I want to help others there see who Jesus is. I just pray that God puts me in the right place.

In preparation for the above Aiden is beginning his vaccanations today.

Funny how things don't always turn out like you planned.

On the reading of two books:

I am currently in the middle of two very different books. One is called “Jude the Obscure” by Thomas Hardy. It was written in 1895 and follows a poor man who’s dreams of going to university are not realized, ends up marrying a woman because she pretends to be pregnant, falls in love with his unhappily married cousin and between them (he and his cousin) they bear children and are despised by the people around them. It is, in part, an exploration of the depths to which a person can descend and the prejudices that abound.

The other book I am reading is “Saint Francis of Assisi” written by G.K. Chesterton. It is Chesterton’s writings about a man who was intensely in love with Christ. Saint Francis took God seriously and as a result did not take himself seriously. He did many things that the people around him did not understand with the purpose of bringing God’s children back to Himself.

One book explores depths and the other explores heights. (As a side, I think it is ironic that the “higher” book is about a man who was incredibly humble and intent on lowering himself before God and man while the “lower” book is about a man who intended to raise himself to another social stature and ended up drowning in mire.) The first book by Hardy impresses upon me the despair that a person can bring upon himself through his fallen nature. The second book is not only uplifting but encourages me to imagine what my life would look like if I truly loved Jesus like He calls us to love Him.

I must ask myself what is the best expenditure of the time I have been given. For while the depths can be informative, I find myself concerned about what encourages me to produce fruit and develop character. As a mother of a little one, I want him to see me seeking to know God in all that I do. Do not misunderstand me; I do not want to be isolated from the pain that exists. I refer again to St. Francis who lived in the midst of the pain of a leper colony in abject poverty. I want to see this pain the way God sees it; knowing that He would not have it this way and he has left His servants here to bind the wounds with Christ’s grave cloths so that He can work His miracle of healing.

Some would say that you must know of that pain before you can heal it and that is why we need to know works like Hardy’s. I don’t disagree and that is why I haven’t quit the reading of “Jude,” but when I think about what to make the primary focus of my reading I want it to be “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” and all things excellent and praiseworthy.

HI! We are reading Hume right now for philosophy. Is anyone familiar with him? It has been a struggle to get through some of his stuff and if anyone has any hints or overviews that would be great.

So... The temp here is -24C. Which means it is -11F! Which means it is really cold outside. Luckily we are warm and cozy in our basement apartment. The weather site says it "feels like" -33C. Which converts to -27F. This certainly ain't Texas :)

Hope all you guys in Texas are staying warm too!

We're Back!
Whew! After a whirl-wind three weeks visiting all that we love in Texas we are back to our home in Canada. We even got an airline-sponsored night's stay in Pittsburgh which gave us a chance to relax. So far we have discovered that we need to get used to waking up to an alarm again, Aiden loves his new bed, and our feet need footies to keep from freezing on our tile floor. (I will be knitting some slippers in the upcomming days) I will miss our family and friends back home but I am excited about working our way back into some sort of schedule. Of course, we are the Loyds and that means that the word schedule can be taken very loosely.

Oh, just a thought, if anyone knows of someone who is getting rid of or selling a TV set that is around 27 inches let me know! My parent's TV still projects a picture but it is fading fast and I would love to find a way to replace it.

Hello to anyone who is still reading our blog nearly a month after our last post!
We love ya'!