Dec 07 2005

Seven Sevens Meme

Category: miscellaneousSteve @ 23:35 pm

From Always Thirsty. My answers are not in any particular order.

  • Seven things to do before I die:
    • Finish my book!
    • Visit South America, from Macchu Pichu to Tierra del Fuego.
    • Start a foundation to give anonymously
    • Have enough money to give anonymously
    • Go back to Israel
    • Lead someone to Christ
    • Sail aboard a square-rigged ship
  • Seven things I cannot do:
    • More than one thing at a time. (I’m a guy, okay?)
    • Dance
    • Be on time (I’m getting better!)
    • Remember what I was supposed to pick up at the store
    • Praise God enough
    • Pray often enough
    • Who am I kidding? I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
  • Seven things that attract me to my wife:
    • She’s seriously goal-driven
    • She taught me to be social
    • She taught me how to give unselfishly
    • She encourages others
    • She’ll save the world one starfish at a time
    • We laugh at the same things
    • She’s an expert in her chosen field
  • Seven things I say most often:
    • Stop that!
    • Swkeet!
    • Don’t forget your lunch (to the kids)
    • Don’t forget your coffee (to Cyndie)
    • Can we postpone the church business meeting another week?
    • Lord, forgive me for being an idiot.
    • Just a second…
  • Seven books (or series) I love:
    • Lord of the Rings (Tolkein)
    • The Narnia series (C.S. Lewis)
    • Aubrey/Maturin series (Patrick O’Brian)
    • Horatio Hornblower series (C.S. Forrester)
    • Haggai (Old Testament)
    • John (New Testament)
    • Seamanship in the Age of Sail (John Harland)
  • Seven movies I would watch over and over again:
    (Or would watch over and over if I had the time every few years)

    • Raising Arizona
    • Shawshank Redemption
    • The Great Escape
    • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    • Star Wars Episode 4 (the “Han Shoots First” version)
    • Princess Bride
    • Spartacus
  • Seven people I want to join in, too:


Dec 07 2005

An Instrument of Torture is a Thing of Beauty

Category: faithSteve @ 22:05 pm

Great Cross at Nombre de Dios MissionHow odd is it that for Christians, an object created to torture prisoners to death has become an object of great beauty? Execution by crucifixion must have been a horrendous, bloody thing.

I’m continually struck by how the things of faith make so little sense to to a dying world: Faith in a God you’ve never seen? Ridiculous. You live in this God and he lives in you? (John 15:5) Pretty stupid! You get up on Sunday morning and go to church rather than sleeping in? Forget about it!

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
(1 Corinthians 1:18-19, NIV)

(Photo courtesy of Always Thirsty and Dave at Found Crosses. This is from the Nombre de Dios mission in St Augustine.)