Without question, the biggest sports story has to be the Urban Meyer situation.
Aside from being a sports story of a coach at a highly successful football program at U of Florida, it is a human story of what matters in life.
What would you do?
Would you keep a job you really love but it subtracts from the total number of years you will live and impose health risks during the years you are alive?
Would you choose a high level of success but burn both ends of the candle or less success but have a life closer to "normal?"
In more routine sports stories, last year's Super Bowl champion Steelers still alive in playoff hunt.
Lakers bounce back from being embarrassed by the Cavs on Christmas day.
The PAC10 is 1-2 in bowl games so far. Tomorrow, this Bruin fan will be hoping they come out strong and salvage some pride for UCLA and the Pac10.
Howland's Bruin basketballers took care of business.
Of the seven losses, four (Kansas, Butler, Notre Dame and Mississippi State) were probably expected given the lowered expectations of this year's edition of bball. But the losses to Fullerton, Portland and Long Beach were pathetic.
But with the departure of Drew Gordon, the team may have added by subtraction with all the other players having to step up. This is especially true of freshman Reeves Nelson who has gotten those minutes and shown more heart than the more talented but erratic Gordon.
Roll, a long time 6-7th man, has stepped up as a senior to offer leadership on the team. Malcolm Lee may turn out to be the best of the so far disappointing recruiting class of 2008 (Holiday left for the NBA and isn't do much there, Gordon left the team, Anderson is the current turnover prone point guard and Morgan has modest minutes from the bench).
The keys appears to be the development of Anderson and Honeycutt. UCLA has had solid point guard play the last handful of years. However, Anderson has shown himself turnover prone but if he can play more under control, he could prove to be a valuable piece in turning the season around. Honeycutt is the top recruit from the 2009 class and if he can fully recover from his injury and plug into the team, the Bruins could make it into the top half of the Pac10 which would be a solid accomplishment considering the talent level of this current group and attrition to the NBA from last year's team.
Go Bruins!
Devotional Thoughts: foreigners here in reverent fear
Continuing on ...
Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
What jumps out at you?
For me ...
"foreigners here in reverent fear"
and
"chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times."
I think one of the struggles of living out the Christian faith is finding the healthy tension between recognizing a higher calling (we belong to God) which leads us to be foreigners yet not become isolated from this present life in the process.
As an ethnic minority, I have experienced some of that "foreign-ness" in that there is sometimes not full acceptance by the majority culture. Some differences are innocuous and fall into the realm of mere "taste" or "preference." But some differences are real values clashes.
If we are living out the Christian faith, there will be times we feel like "foreigners." For example, today, there is a very aggressive strand of atheism that views Christians as intellectually deficient and the source of many problems in society. For less aggressive atheists, they view Christians as odd people but tolerable as long as they don't say too much.
Because of this, it will be easy to retreat to one's own enclaves.
But, of course, the life of Jesus and his message calls us to influence the lives of others by demonstrating love, calling people to turn back to God and building bridges. Thus, the temptation to retreat to a private precinct is to be resisted.
Its mind blowing to consider "chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times."
The mission of Jesus was planned before the creation of the world? Whoa.
As humans, we think in linear time: creation of world --> fall of humanity --> Jesus.
This passage says that Jesus was chosen to the sacrificial lamb before the creation... before the fall ... before it was necessary (in our sense of linear time)!
Jesus, as the sacrificial lamb, at that moment in human history, is effective not just for those in the first century but for us in the 21st century and for that matter for all time?!
And in God's time line, Jesus' revelation is "the last times."
People sometimes object to the Christian faith because it isn't rational.
In most people's mind, people believe that means Christianity is irrational and thus not true.
I propose for your consideration that that is inaccurate.
Rather, I consider Christianity supra-rational.
Is that a real word?
Yes.
Love cannot be comprehended by reason alone. It involves reason in that we observe the beloved and interact with words and deeds. But the choice of love, the commitment to love, the cherishing of the beloved requires more than reason.
Christianity posits that God is a person who is seeking to reconcile wayward creatures to himself and each other. Since this existentially is about relationships it cannot be exclusively a rational endeavor.
Do you buy it?
Lord, thank you for redeeming me. I was stuck in a futile path. I was alienated. I was without hope. But you have paid a price to transfer me from that lost life. Through Jesus' life, example, teaching, death and resurrection, there is hope and life and love. Help me to live in this truth with reverence. Amen.
Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
What jumps out at you?
For me ...
"foreigners here in reverent fear"
and
"chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times."
I think one of the struggles of living out the Christian faith is finding the healthy tension between recognizing a higher calling (we belong to God) which leads us to be foreigners yet not become isolated from this present life in the process.
As an ethnic minority, I have experienced some of that "foreign-ness" in that there is sometimes not full acceptance by the majority culture. Some differences are innocuous and fall into the realm of mere "taste" or "preference." But some differences are real values clashes.
If we are living out the Christian faith, there will be times we feel like "foreigners." For example, today, there is a very aggressive strand of atheism that views Christians as intellectually deficient and the source of many problems in society. For less aggressive atheists, they view Christians as odd people but tolerable as long as they don't say too much.
Because of this, it will be easy to retreat to one's own enclaves.
But, of course, the life of Jesus and his message calls us to influence the lives of others by demonstrating love, calling people to turn back to God and building bridges. Thus, the temptation to retreat to a private precinct is to be resisted.
Its mind blowing to consider "chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times."
The mission of Jesus was planned before the creation of the world? Whoa.
As humans, we think in linear time: creation of world --> fall of humanity --> Jesus.
This passage says that Jesus was chosen to the sacrificial lamb before the creation... before the fall ... before it was necessary (in our sense of linear time)!
Jesus, as the sacrificial lamb, at that moment in human history, is effective not just for those in the first century but for us in the 21st century and for that matter for all time?!
And in God's time line, Jesus' revelation is "the last times."
People sometimes object to the Christian faith because it isn't rational.
In most people's mind, people believe that means Christianity is irrational and thus not true.
I propose for your consideration that that is inaccurate.
Rather, I consider Christianity supra-rational.
Is that a real word?
Yes.
Love cannot be comprehended by reason alone. It involves reason in that we observe the beloved and interact with words and deeds. But the choice of love, the commitment to love, the cherishing of the beloved requires more than reason.
Christianity posits that God is a person who is seeking to reconcile wayward creatures to himself and each other. Since this existentially is about relationships it cannot be exclusively a rational endeavor.
Do you buy it?
Lord, thank you for redeeming me. I was stuck in a futile path. I was alienated. I was without hope. But you have paid a price to transfer me from that lost life. Through Jesus' life, example, teaching, death and resurrection, there is hope and life and love. Help me to live in this truth with reverence. Amen.
Devotional Thoughts: Set your hope fully on the grace to be given
Its Christmas!
Can we get an Advent perspective on this reading from 1 Peter?
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy.
When is "when Jesus Christ is revealed?"
At one level, when Jesus came to be born in a manger, he was revealed!
Most didn't notice.
But Jesus will come again ...
Some think this passage describes Jesus return, At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. If so, there will be no missing it!
And so Peter appears to be encouraging us to set our hope on that future event. But suffice to say, hope and grace has already begun breaking into the world with the arrival of the Christ child!
The hearers of 1 Peter didn't live to see the day of Christ's return. And 2000 years later, we wonder when Jesus will return. Will it happen in our lifetime?
Mark 13:32-36 tells us no one except God knows when Jesus will return.
And what advice did Jesus give while we wait?
Be on guard ...
Be alert ...
Be about our assigned task ...
And Peter echoes Jesus words:
Prepare your minds for action
Be self-controlled
Set your hope on grace
Do not conform to evil desires
Be holy
Thank you Lord for Christmas! Grace has been given in the Christ child, grace is given each day and grace will be given to your people when you return. But for today my prayer is as the words of the Christmas Carol ...
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Amen.
Can we get an Advent perspective on this reading from 1 Peter?
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy.
When is "when Jesus Christ is revealed?"
At one level, when Jesus came to be born in a manger, he was revealed!
Most didn't notice.
But Jesus will come again ...
Some think this passage describes Jesus return, At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. If so, there will be no missing it!
And so Peter appears to be encouraging us to set our hope on that future event. But suffice to say, hope and grace has already begun breaking into the world with the arrival of the Christ child!
The hearers of 1 Peter didn't live to see the day of Christ's return. And 2000 years later, we wonder when Jesus will return. Will it happen in our lifetime?
Mark 13:32-36 tells us no one except God knows when Jesus will return.
And what advice did Jesus give while we wait?
Be on guard ...
Be alert ...
Be about our assigned task ...
And Peter echoes Jesus words:
Prepare your minds for action
Be self-controlled
Set your hope on grace
Do not conform to evil desires
Be holy
Thank you Lord for Christmas! Grace has been given in the Christ child, grace is given each day and grace will be given to your people when you return. But for today my prayer is as the words of the Christmas Carol ...
Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Amen.
Non-profit of the month: December 2009 - The Saban (Los Angeles) Free Clinic
There are 300 million Americans.
If each gave $10 to a local Community Health Clinic that would be ...
$3 billion.
If the Saban (LA) Free Clinic (http://www.thesabanfreeclinic.org) which runs on $13.5 million a year is typical...
$3 billion = 222 Community Health Clinics can be funded for 1 year.
While the politicians in Washington DC pick "winners" and "losers" in 2000+ pages of health legislation, we, taking the initiative, could do something to help out that will make a difference.
Please consider giving to your local community health clinic!
If each gave $10 to a local Community Health Clinic that would be ...
$3 billion.
If the Saban (LA) Free Clinic (http://www.thesabanfreeclinic.org) which runs on $13.5 million a year is typical...
$3 billion = 222 Community Health Clinics can be funded for 1 year.
While the politicians in Washington DC pick "winners" and "losers" in 2000+ pages of health legislation, we, taking the initiative, could do something to help out that will make a difference.
Please consider giving to your local community health clinic!
Politics: Improving Health Care Delivery
The "trinity" of health care discussion is cost, access and quality.
The hard reality is that you can't have all three to the degree that people want.
So the best we can do is try to maximize each element without breaking the bank and so that is the premise I use to look at the issue before the nation right now.
We should be honest about the size of the problem.
If indeed 46 million are uninsured, we do have a problem. But looked at another way, that means 254 million do have insurance!
Do we tear up the whole system to address the problem?
Cost
(1) As much as the MDs might not like it but the bottom line is that more of health care needs to be delivered by well trained non-MD medical professionals.
image source: http://innovatorsprescription.com/profiles/blogs/the-importance-of
As research pushes more medical conditions into the upper right side of this chart, more medical care can be delivered by non-MD medical professionals.
Thus, health care reform must include re-writing laws to make this more likely.
(2) Another area of cost control is the success of entities like Kaiser. If the Federal government issues too many mandates and regulations (think there might be some of that in 2000+ pages of legislation?), the creativity and innovation of organizations like Kaiser will get stifled.
(3) Lastly, we need to look at tort reform. The trial lawyers who make bundles of money in medical malpractice lawsuits have a strong lobby on Capitol Hill. From what I have heard, there is no word of any tort reform in the current bill.
Access
(1) For primary care, there needs to be more creative delivery "Doc in a box" mechanisms like Minute Clinic and Take Care Clinic.
(2) From a government standpoint, there must be more funding for Community Health Clinics.
(3) For more expensive care, insurance access needs to be improved.
Part of the problem right now is that there is "cost shifting" because private insurance is distorted by two factors: the tax-advantage of employer-based insurance and the underpayment of care delivered via Medicare. These two factors drive up health insurance costs for those who obtain it outside of employment and Medicare.
Therefore,
(A) Phase in more cost sharing by subscribers of Medicare. Perhaps some kind of graduated scale where higher income seniors pay more than lower income seniors.
(B) Eliminate the tax advantage of employer-based insurance. We buy auto insurance with after-tax salary dollars. We should buy health insurance with after-tax salary dollars. I don't have the CBO at my disposal to calculate the numbers but some kind of graduated tax credit should be offered.
For example:
Income > X, no tax credit for health insurance
Income < X but > Y, tax credit of $ABCD
Income < Y, tax credit of 2 x $ABCD.
More tiers may be needed but a tax credit approach is more fair than taxes on "Cadillac" insurance policies.
To my understanding, under the current bill, high-priced insurance policies would be taxed at a punitive rate regardless of whether it is a high or middle income earner buying it. Under a tiered tax credit system, the high income earner can buy the "Cadillac" policy without a tax credit and the middle income earner if they want to buy it will do so with some tax credit help. The bottom line is give the option to the buyer.
How do we fund all this?
Will anyone have the courage to say, if all benefit from this, we should all chip in some extra taxes?
Instead, what we have is 2000+ pages of wheeling and dealing where politically well connected groups get a break and others get punished.
Quality
As much as politicians don't like it but the profit motive is necessary. The computer and internet revolution was driven by profits at high tech companies. And so the same is true for health care. The medicines and other technologies that make US health care top notch (though unevenly delivered) require risk taking for profit companies.
Thus, as hard as it is for politicians, they must resist demonizing the profit motive of drug, medical instrumentation and insurance companies. They must resist writing into law mandates and regulations that stifle innovation and risk taking.
Instinctively, the American people know this and as such that is why the public is so overwhelmingly against a "public option" or anything that looks like a government take over of health care.
The hard reality is that you can't have all three to the degree that people want.
So the best we can do is try to maximize each element without breaking the bank and so that is the premise I use to look at the issue before the nation right now.
We should be honest about the size of the problem.
If indeed 46 million are uninsured, we do have a problem. But looked at another way, that means 254 million do have insurance!
Do we tear up the whole system to address the problem?
Cost
(1) As much as the MDs might not like it but the bottom line is that more of health care needs to be delivered by well trained non-MD medical professionals.
image source: http://innovatorsprescription.com/profiles/blogs/the-importance-of
As research pushes more medical conditions into the upper right side of this chart, more medical care can be delivered by non-MD medical professionals.
Thus, health care reform must include re-writing laws to make this more likely.
(2) Another area of cost control is the success of entities like Kaiser. If the Federal government issues too many mandates and regulations (think there might be some of that in 2000+ pages of legislation?), the creativity and innovation of organizations like Kaiser will get stifled.
(3) Lastly, we need to look at tort reform. The trial lawyers who make bundles of money in medical malpractice lawsuits have a strong lobby on Capitol Hill. From what I have heard, there is no word of any tort reform in the current bill.
Access
(1) For primary care, there needs to be more creative delivery "Doc in a box" mechanisms like Minute Clinic and Take Care Clinic.
(2) From a government standpoint, there must be more funding for Community Health Clinics.
(3) For more expensive care, insurance access needs to be improved.
Part of the problem right now is that there is "cost shifting" because private insurance is distorted by two factors: the tax-advantage of employer-based insurance and the underpayment of care delivered via Medicare. These two factors drive up health insurance costs for those who obtain it outside of employment and Medicare.
Therefore,
(A) Phase in more cost sharing by subscribers of Medicare. Perhaps some kind of graduated scale where higher income seniors pay more than lower income seniors.
(B) Eliminate the tax advantage of employer-based insurance. We buy auto insurance with after-tax salary dollars. We should buy health insurance with after-tax salary dollars. I don't have the CBO at my disposal to calculate the numbers but some kind of graduated tax credit should be offered.
For example:
Income > X, no tax credit for health insurance
Income < X but > Y, tax credit of $ABCD
Income < Y, tax credit of 2 x $ABCD.
More tiers may be needed but a tax credit approach is more fair than taxes on "Cadillac" insurance policies.
To my understanding, under the current bill, high-priced insurance policies would be taxed at a punitive rate regardless of whether it is a high or middle income earner buying it. Under a tiered tax credit system, the high income earner can buy the "Cadillac" policy without a tax credit and the middle income earner if they want to buy it will do so with some tax credit help. The bottom line is give the option to the buyer.
How do we fund all this?
Will anyone have the courage to say, if all benefit from this, we should all chip in some extra taxes?
Instead, what we have is 2000+ pages of wheeling and dealing where politically well connected groups get a break and others get punished.
Quality
As much as politicians don't like it but the profit motive is necessary. The computer and internet revolution was driven by profits at high tech companies. And so the same is true for health care. The medicines and other technologies that make US health care top notch (though unevenly delivered) require risk taking for profit companies.
Thus, as hard as it is for politicians, they must resist demonizing the profit motive of drug, medical instrumentation and insurance companies. They must resist writing into law mandates and regulations that stifle innovation and risk taking.
Instinctively, the American people know this and as such that is why the public is so overwhelmingly against a "public option" or anything that looks like a government take over of health care.
Politics: Some head shaking details of health care "reform"
The idea of extending health insurance to more folks has some merit.
But as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details;" far more than can be discussed in 59 seconds.
I don't have time to read 2000+ pages of legislation and I doubt any Senator or House member has done so either. Instead, they rely on staff to do the reading and writing of legislation and that is when things get slipped in.
And, inevitably, when some items are brought to the light of day, there may be outrage.
I suppose there are web pages that post some of the little "gems" buried in that legislation that if widely known should spark head shaking wonder at what the heck these people on the Hill are thinking?
Here are a few things I have heard that I wonder, if true, who the dickens put that into the bill and confirms the worst suspicions I have about the legislative process.
* the botox tax - There are actual medical reasons why some neurologists use the stuff on patients and indeed, if someone is using it for cosmetic purposes, that is their business. Why not tax cosmetic sales at Macys?
UPDATE: This tax appears to have been pulled out. See Tanning Bed Tax below.
* the Cadillac insurance tax - The Feds will tax insurance polices above a certain value. Again, if someone wants to buy more health insurance that is their business just like if someone wants to spend more money buying a car. Why not tax Jaguars and BMWs and Cadillacs?
* the tanning bed tax - Looks like the dermatology lobby is stronger than the vitamin D lobby! The dermatologists are concerned about skin cancer so tanning beds are evil. The vitamin D advocates believe tanning beds if used properly can help raise vitamin D levels which benefit immune health. Again, what business does the Federal government have taxing a specific industry?
Disclaimer: I work in a vitamin D research lab investigating the molecular mechanisms of vitamin D regulation of the immune system. I wonder if some Congressional staffer had called our lab head (or a handful of other senior level vitamin D researchers in the USA) would they have been convinced to pull that provision from the bill?
* profit regulations on the private insurance industry - How much profits does a company "deserve?" Well, the Federal government will now regulate how much these companies can make. Where is the outrage at the "excessive" profits of Intel or Apple computers? Where is the anger at the "exorbitant" salaries that lawyers make? Do actors and athletes deserve to make 8 figures are year?
* using cuts in Medicare to pay for extension of coverage - Medicare is going broke and they want to cut Medicare? Sure sounds like robbing Peter to pay Paul except, in this case, Peter is running out of cash.
Probably many more "rewards" and "punishments" delivered by the whim of Congressional staffs writing these bills.
Beginning to think listening to the details of health care "reform" can make one sick?
UPDATE: I hope to post some thoughts on what I think health care reform should look like rather than just complain about the negatives.
UPDATE: "Hidden gems" in the health care bill ...
Washington Examiner finds Section 3403.
Excerpt:
Beginning on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads in part: "... it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection."
In other words, if President Obama signs this measure into law, Reid intends that no future Senate or House will be able to change a single word of Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans or their representatives in Congress wish otherwise.
Note that the subsection at issue here concerns the regulatory power of the Independent Medicare Independent Advisory Board to "reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending."
That is precisely the kind of open-ended grant of regulatory power that effectively establishes the IMAB as the ultimate arbiter of the cost, quality and quantity of health care to be made available to the American people. And Reid wants the decisions of this group of unelected federal bureaucrats to be untouchable for all time.
And then there is the vote buying.
Excerpt:
To hold together his 60 Senate Democrats, Reid simply dispensed favors -- eternal Medicaid financing for Ben Nelson's Nebraska, a hospital grant for Chris Dodd's Connecticut, more rural health money for Byron Dorgan's North Dakota and Montana's Max Baucus.
And then there will likely be a "ping pong" play to get a secretly negotiated bill through opposition.
Excerpt:
Conferences involving members from both houses are messy things. They are usually conducted in public and often televised, and can produce a compromise version of the bill that leaves rank-and-file members tempted to vote against the final version. That could be perilous in the case of health care since it's likely to pass without a vote to spare in the Senate and the House's version passed by only five votes.
.....
Rather than appoint members to a public conference committee, those measures were "ping-ponged" -- i.e. changes to reconcile the two versions were transmitted by messenger between the two houses as the final product was crafted behind closed doors solely by the leadership. Many Democrats grumbled at the secrecy. "We need to get back to the point where we use conference committees . . . and have serious dialogue," said Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama at the time.
But serious dialogue isn't what Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are interested in right now. Look for the traditional conference committee to be replaced by a "ping-pong" game in which health care is finalized behind closed doors with little public scrutiny before the bill is rushed to the floor of each chamber for a final vote.
But as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details;" far more than can be discussed in 59 seconds.
I don't have time to read 2000+ pages of legislation and I doubt any Senator or House member has done so either. Instead, they rely on staff to do the reading and writing of legislation and that is when things get slipped in.
And, inevitably, when some items are brought to the light of day, there may be outrage.
I suppose there are web pages that post some of the little "gems" buried in that legislation that if widely known should spark head shaking wonder at what the heck these people on the Hill are thinking?
Here are a few things I have heard that I wonder, if true, who the dickens put that into the bill and confirms the worst suspicions I have about the legislative process.
* the botox tax - There are actual medical reasons why some neurologists use the stuff on patients and indeed, if someone is using it for cosmetic purposes, that is their business. Why not tax cosmetic sales at Macys?
UPDATE: This tax appears to have been pulled out. See Tanning Bed Tax below.
* the Cadillac insurance tax - The Feds will tax insurance polices above a certain value. Again, if someone wants to buy more health insurance that is their business just like if someone wants to spend more money buying a car. Why not tax Jaguars and BMWs and Cadillacs?
* the tanning bed tax - Looks like the dermatology lobby is stronger than the vitamin D lobby! The dermatologists are concerned about skin cancer so tanning beds are evil. The vitamin D advocates believe tanning beds if used properly can help raise vitamin D levels which benefit immune health. Again, what business does the Federal government have taxing a specific industry?
Disclaimer: I work in a vitamin D research lab investigating the molecular mechanisms of vitamin D regulation of the immune system. I wonder if some Congressional staffer had called our lab head (or a handful of other senior level vitamin D researchers in the USA) would they have been convinced to pull that provision from the bill?
* profit regulations on the private insurance industry - How much profits does a company "deserve?" Well, the Federal government will now regulate how much these companies can make. Where is the outrage at the "excessive" profits of Intel or Apple computers? Where is the anger at the "exorbitant" salaries that lawyers make? Do actors and athletes deserve to make 8 figures are year?
* using cuts in Medicare to pay for extension of coverage - Medicare is going broke and they want to cut Medicare? Sure sounds like robbing Peter to pay Paul except, in this case, Peter is running out of cash.
Probably many more "rewards" and "punishments" delivered by the whim of Congressional staffs writing these bills.
Beginning to think listening to the details of health care "reform" can make one sick?
UPDATE: I hope to post some thoughts on what I think health care reform should look like rather than just complain about the negatives.
UPDATE: "Hidden gems" in the health care bill ...
Washington Examiner finds Section 3403.
Excerpt:
Beginning on page 1,000 of the measure, Section 3403 reads in part: "... it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection."
In other words, if President Obama signs this measure into law, Reid intends that no future Senate or House will be able to change a single word of Section 3403, regardless whether future Americans or their representatives in Congress wish otherwise.
Note that the subsection at issue here concerns the regulatory power of the Independent Medicare Independent Advisory Board to "reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending."
That is precisely the kind of open-ended grant of regulatory power that effectively establishes the IMAB as the ultimate arbiter of the cost, quality and quantity of health care to be made available to the American people. And Reid wants the decisions of this group of unelected federal bureaucrats to be untouchable for all time.
And then there is the vote buying.
Excerpt:
To hold together his 60 Senate Democrats, Reid simply dispensed favors -- eternal Medicaid financing for Ben Nelson's Nebraska, a hospital grant for Chris Dodd's Connecticut, more rural health money for Byron Dorgan's North Dakota and Montana's Max Baucus.
And then there will likely be a "ping pong" play to get a secretly negotiated bill through opposition.
Excerpt:
Conferences involving members from both houses are messy things. They are usually conducted in public and often televised, and can produce a compromise version of the bill that leaves rank-and-file members tempted to vote against the final version. That could be perilous in the case of health care since it's likely to pass without a vote to spare in the Senate and the House's version passed by only five votes.
.....
Rather than appoint members to a public conference committee, those measures were "ping-ponged" -- i.e. changes to reconcile the two versions were transmitted by messenger between the two houses as the final product was crafted behind closed doors solely by the leadership. Many Democrats grumbled at the secrecy. "We need to get back to the point where we use conference committees . . . and have serious dialogue," said Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama at the time.
But serious dialogue isn't what Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid are interested in right now. Look for the traditional conference committee to be replaced by a "ping-pong" game in which health care is finalized behind closed doors with little public scrutiny before the bill is rushed to the floor of each chamber for a final vote.
Devotional Thoughts: Angels long to look
Continuing in I Peter ...
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Jesus changed everything.
The prophets of old pointing were pointing to that change. But they didn't get to see it in their lifetimes.
The angels "long to look ..." I wonder what does that really mean?
image source: http://www.binoculartips.com/
Imagine if you will, angels in the presence of God and God speaks to them of His plans to initiate a salvation plan through Jesus. The angels wonder, what is going to happen?
God, being God, can see how it will unfold ... down to the details of ...
people sneering at a pregnant Mary...
Joseph feeling the cold shoulders of people who think he's clueless...
Jesus experiencing the joy of people responding...
and the pain of people rejecting...
the agony of bearing the cross...
the power and glory of the resurrection...
the birth of the church...
and how the church will sometime embody the grace God wants to extend to God's delight...
and how the church will all too often fall into self-righteousness and cold heartedness grieving God...
the culmination of all things when God turns the kingdoms of this world into his kingdom...
But the angels, not being God, can't see how the future unfolds.
They wonder what is going to happen?
They know something wonderful is going to happen and so they in their own way, in ways we don't understand, do as God directs them and participate with us in the unfolding of what God is doing?
Thank you Lord that grace has come. Reconciliation with You and our fellow human beings is unfolding. The suffering of Jesus has opened the gates of salvation and that glory flows out and the angels watch with awe and wonder. May this Christmas season see a renewal in my own heart of the amazing thing you have done and a renewal of my commitment to take part in what you are doing in this world. Amen.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Jesus changed everything.
The prophets of old pointing were pointing to that change. But they didn't get to see it in their lifetimes.
The angels "long to look ..." I wonder what does that really mean?
image source: http://www.binoculartips.com/
Imagine if you will, angels in the presence of God and God speaks to them of His plans to initiate a salvation plan through Jesus. The angels wonder, what is going to happen?
God, being God, can see how it will unfold ... down to the details of ...
people sneering at a pregnant Mary...
Joseph feeling the cold shoulders of people who think he's clueless...
Jesus experiencing the joy of people responding...
and the pain of people rejecting...
the agony of bearing the cross...
the power and glory of the resurrection...
the birth of the church...
and how the church will sometime embody the grace God wants to extend to God's delight...
and how the church will all too often fall into self-righteousness and cold heartedness grieving God...
the culmination of all things when God turns the kingdoms of this world into his kingdom...
But the angels, not being God, can't see how the future unfolds.
They wonder what is going to happen?
They know something wonderful is going to happen and so they in their own way, in ways we don't understand, do as God directs them and participate with us in the unfolding of what God is doing?
Thank you Lord that grace has come. Reconciliation with You and our fellow human beings is unfolding. The suffering of Jesus has opened the gates of salvation and that glory flows out and the angels watch with awe and wonder. May this Christmas season see a renewal in my own heart of the amazing thing you have done and a renewal of my commitment to take part in what you are doing in this world. Amen.
Politics: When not nationalizing health insurance is nationalizing health insurance
It appears the "public option" is dead.
It appears the expansion of Medicare to 55 year olds is dead.
But is the current bill still going to result in a defacto national health insurance system?
This is the argument in this analysis piece over at FixHealthCarePolicy.com a project of the Heritage Foundation.
Excerpt:
Of particular concern to patients should be that the detailed benefits in their health insurance coverage will soon be determined by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. Last week, Americans got a foretaste of what Federal health benefit regulation means when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its recommendation for breast cancer screening (mammography) for women aged 40 to 50 from “B” (recommended) to “C” (not recommended).
.....
Thus, a decision by a, heretofore, obscure HHS Task Force to recommend a specific medical service would in the future carry the force of law, and would impose additional costs on insurers and employer health plans. Conversely, any decision by the Task Force to issue a “C” or “D” rating (not recommended) — as it did last week in the case of breast cancer screening — will be henceforth viewed by insurers and employers as a justification for discontinuing coverage.
.....
The eventual result will be that the only medical care paid for through private health insurance will be the specific, items and services required by federal regulations promulgated by HHS. At that point, Congress will have effectively nationalized the entire American health insurance system under the supervision of the Secretary of HHS — regardless of whether or not it also sets up yet another government health insurance program in the process.
It appears the expansion of Medicare to 55 year olds is dead.
But is the current bill still going to result in a defacto national health insurance system?
This is the argument in this analysis piece over at FixHealthCarePolicy.com a project of the Heritage Foundation.
Excerpt:
Of particular concern to patients should be that the detailed benefits in their health insurance coverage will soon be determined by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. Last week, Americans got a foretaste of what Federal health benefit regulation means when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its recommendation for breast cancer screening (mammography) for women aged 40 to 50 from “B” (recommended) to “C” (not recommended).
.....
Thus, a decision by a, heretofore, obscure HHS Task Force to recommend a specific medical service would in the future carry the force of law, and would impose additional costs on insurers and employer health plans. Conversely, any decision by the Task Force to issue a “C” or “D” rating (not recommended) — as it did last week in the case of breast cancer screening — will be henceforth viewed by insurers and employers as a justification for discontinuing coverage.
.....
The eventual result will be that the only medical care paid for through private health insurance will be the specific, items and services required by federal regulations promulgated by HHS. At that point, Congress will have effectively nationalized the entire American health insurance system under the supervision of the Secretary of HHS — regardless of whether or not it also sets up yet another government health insurance program in the process.
Politics: Health Care Reform in 59 Seconds?
The debate is framed: health insurance = health care.
How does health insurance happen?
(1) payed by employer as a benefit + employee kicks in some premium payments
(2) self-bought if your employer doesn't offer or
(3) Medicare (provides insurance for age 65+) taxes
There is a sizable segment of the population that doesn't fall into categories 1-3.
Proposed solution: force people to buy insurance
(A) some can afford but opt not to buy so penalize them
(B) some can't afford - so they need subsidies; therefore, tax items #1 and #2 in some cases, tax wealthy (define wealthy?) and shift funds from #3.
Of course I've simplified matters greatly and there are all kinds of problems with this proposed solution but I've used up my 59 seconds as my goal was just to attempt to define the state of play.
Was this a fair and balanced description of the situation?
UPDATE: The thing is 2000+ pages so there are lot of "devil in the details" type analysis that can't be done in 59 seconds but I hope I got the big picture aspect of what they are trying to do.
How does health insurance happen?
(1) payed by employer as a benefit + employee kicks in some premium payments
(2) self-bought if your employer doesn't offer or
(3) Medicare (provides insurance for age 65+) taxes
There is a sizable segment of the population that doesn't fall into categories 1-3.
Proposed solution: force people to buy insurance
(A) some can afford but opt not to buy so penalize them
(B) some can't afford - so they need subsidies; therefore, tax items #1 and #2 in some cases, tax wealthy (define wealthy?) and shift funds from #3.
Of course I've simplified matters greatly and there are all kinds of problems with this proposed solution but I've used up my 59 seconds as my goal was just to attempt to define the state of play.
Was this a fair and balanced description of the situation?
UPDATE: The thing is 2000+ pages so there are lot of "devil in the details" type analysis that can't be done in 59 seconds but I hope I got the big picture aspect of what they are trying to do.
Sports: Bruins in ruins?
That was quick ... we knew year 1 would be tough and it was. Year 2 got the Bruins back in the NCAA.
Years 3-4-5 were magic carpet rides to the Final Four.
Year 6 showed some slippage as the Bruins were eliminated in round 2 of the NCAA which wasn't unexpected given the talent level of that team.
Year 7 ... the team has fallen off the edge of the world. 8-(
The fans are getting restless.
How long before there is a http://www.firebenhowland.com just like there was a Fire Karl Dorrell blogspot?
Howland has earned some wiggle room because of years 1-5.
And as far as we can tell, he is running a clean program on and off the court.
But there are concerns about recent recruiting and starting/bench rotations.
Hopefully, Howland can make some adjustments on the floor and in recruiting and that this group of players will realize they just can't put on the jersey with U - C - L - A on it and expect to win.
Go Bruins!
UPDATE: Well, maybe Howland got the player's attention as they finally pulled together some defense and put up some points in their 100-68 win over New Mexico State. Go Bruins!
Years 3-4-5 were magic carpet rides to the Final Four.
Year 6 showed some slippage as the Bruins were eliminated in round 2 of the NCAA which wasn't unexpected given the talent level of that team.
Year 7 ... the team has fallen off the edge of the world. 8-(
The fans are getting restless.
How long before there is a http://www.firebenhowland.com just like there was a Fire Karl Dorrell blogspot?
Howland has earned some wiggle room because of years 1-5.
And as far as we can tell, he is running a clean program on and off the court.
But there are concerns about recent recruiting and starting/bench rotations.
Hopefully, Howland can make some adjustments on the floor and in recruiting and that this group of players will realize they just can't put on the jersey with U - C - L - A on it and expect to win.
Go Bruins!
UPDATE: Well, maybe Howland got the player's attention as they finally pulled together some defense and put up some points in their 100-68 win over New Mexico State. Go Bruins!
Politics: Doc in a box and community health clinics as part of health reform?
Had mentioned previously the notion of "doc in a box" as part of dealing with reforming health care.
Was listening to an interview with Clayton M. Christensen, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School who wrote the book Innovators Prescription. He mentioned the innovation of Take Care Clinic of Walgreens and Minute Clinic of CVS.
If this were to become a bigger part of our health care delivery system, would we make a bigger dent in the uninsured problem?
Would it help reduce some costs?
Also interviewed by Hugh Hewitt was Children’s Health Fund founder, pediatrician, Dr. Irwin Redlener.
He too supported a greater role for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.
Additionally, he stressed a team concept with these mid-level health care personnel with doctors which can often be found at community health clinics.
Hewitt asked, might we get more bang for the buck by committing $100 billion to community health clinics versus $1000 billion in the current ideas floating up on Capitol Hill?
Redlener thought it was a definite possibility.
Was listening to an interview with Clayton M. Christensen, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School who wrote the book Innovators Prescription. He mentioned the innovation of Take Care Clinic of Walgreens and Minute Clinic of CVS.
If this were to become a bigger part of our health care delivery system, would we make a bigger dent in the uninsured problem?
Would it help reduce some costs?
Also interviewed by Hugh Hewitt was Children’s Health Fund founder, pediatrician, Dr. Irwin Redlener.
He too supported a greater role for nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.
Additionally, he stressed a team concept with these mid-level health care personnel with doctors which can often be found at community health clinics.
Hewitt asked, might we get more bang for the buck by committing $100 billion to community health clinics versus $1000 billion in the current ideas floating up on Capitol Hill?
Redlener thought it was a definite possibility.
Movies: Fiddler on the Roof
Some musicals become a part of the cultural landscape when we know the songs without having ever seen the movie.
Such a film is Fiddler on the Roof.
Finally saw it a couple weeks back through my Netflix subscription.
Here is a playlist of the well known musical numbers from the film.
Here are a couple of my favorites ...
Such a film is Fiddler on the Roof.
Finally saw it a couple weeks back through my Netflix subscription.
Here is a playlist of the well known musical numbers from the film.
Here are a couple of my favorites ...
Devotional Thoughts: For a little while
1 Peter 1:3-9 launches into a uplifting reflection of the end of our stories and how that helps us in the day-to-day.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
image source: http://www.callbox7.com/a-complete-guide-to-ambulance/
2000 years separate us in the USA from the recipients of this letter from St. Peter. In some ways, we are quite different from those people. I think that the shadow of death hung over them much more than it does today. In a time with no medicine or hospitals, death was probably something the average person saw quite often. A trauma on the city street with no ER to rush them too, an infection with no antibiotics and on goes the list of things that could strike someone down that today we could do something about was a potential death sentence for the hearers of St. Peter's letter.
And so the living hope of Jesus would be very powerful. The idea that something that would not perish, spoil or fade would be immensely re-assuring.
How about us today?
Though we have banished many causes of death with medicine and technology, our essential mortality remains.
And so suffering is still as real today as it was then ... maybe here in the USA we can push it from our minds a little more easily ... but it still lingers and haunts in moments ...
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
... and so suffering remains a fact of life ... but rejoicing is possible ... how?
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
image source: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/Background/Infol2/EIS-D1.html
Pain, suffering, grief, death ... these remain constants in the human story. The slave in ancient Egypt worked to near death, the farmer in the early church seeing a loved one dying for reasons he does not know, John Donne wondering for whom the bells were tolling ...
And so we believe that this can be gone through and redeemed.
Humility, compassion, gratitude, trust ... these can come from suffering. These things, worth more than gold, could be won from the dark nights of despair.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Lord, through a glass darkly, I see. But I see. And I await the full dawning of the salvation you have begun. Help me to get a taste of the inexpressible and glorious joy. Amen.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
image source: http://www.callbox7.com/a-complete-guide-to-ambulance/
2000 years separate us in the USA from the recipients of this letter from St. Peter. In some ways, we are quite different from those people. I think that the shadow of death hung over them much more than it does today. In a time with no medicine or hospitals, death was probably something the average person saw quite often. A trauma on the city street with no ER to rush them too, an infection with no antibiotics and on goes the list of things that could strike someone down that today we could do something about was a potential death sentence for the hearers of St. Peter's letter.
And so the living hope of Jesus would be very powerful. The idea that something that would not perish, spoil or fade would be immensely re-assuring.
How about us today?
Though we have banished many causes of death with medicine and technology, our essential mortality remains.
And so suffering is still as real today as it was then ... maybe here in the USA we can push it from our minds a little more easily ... but it still lingers and haunts in moments ...
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
... and so suffering remains a fact of life ... but rejoicing is possible ... how?
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
image source: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004/Background/Infol2/EIS-D1.html
Pain, suffering, grief, death ... these remain constants in the human story. The slave in ancient Egypt worked to near death, the farmer in the early church seeing a loved one dying for reasons he does not know, John Donne wondering for whom the bells were tolling ...
And so we believe that this can be gone through and redeemed.
Humility, compassion, gratitude, trust ... these can come from suffering. These things, worth more than gold, could be won from the dark nights of despair.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Lord, through a glass darkly, I see. But I see. And I await the full dawning of the salvation you have begun. Help me to get a taste of the inexpressible and glorious joy. Amen.
Politics: Ideas on health care in the USA
Wonder if any of the people on the Hill are reading these articles?
The Problem is Cost of Care by Michael Munger who is a professor of economics, and the chair of the political science department, at Duke University.
Excerpt:
The problem is that health care costs have increased at an annual rate double, or more than double, the rate of inflation for the last two decades. Right now, our attempts at reform are doomed by a law of accounting physics: Insurance can’t cost less than the health care it insures. That means that subsidizing insurance likely makes the problem worse.
Cato's What Is the Free-Market Approach to Health Care Reform? is another that goes beyond the usual mantras of "public option" and "mandated insurance."
Excerpt:
We also need to rethink medical licensing laws to encourage greater competition among providers. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, midwives, and other non-physician practitioners should have far greater ability to treat patients. Doctors and other health professionals should be able to take their licenses from state to state. We should also be encouraging innovations in delivery such as medical clinics in retail outlets.
This sounds a bit like what I heard a couple of decades ago when I was an undergraduate at UCLA. For fun, I took a class in the School of Public Health about Health Care Systems. It was a survey of the different methods health care was delivered in the USA in the 1980s. It touched on how some other countries do it also and discussed some of the problems and challenges ahead.
One of the comments that stuck was when one of the profs remarked, we need more "Doc in the Box!"
The point was that a lot of what doctors deal with are pretty mundane.
So I suppose real reform will need for all interest groups to take a hit:
Patients - bearing a higher percentage of the cost of our own care.
Doctors - allowing non-MDs to carry more of the work load.
Insurance companies - tighter regulations on them regarding denial of coverage on pre-existing conditions.
Trial lawyers - tort reform to help reduce the cost of malpractice insurance and excessive defensive medicine.
Government bureaucrats - might they realize that the solution big government believers want is actually making the problem worse? The government already has a big hand in health insurance through the Medicare program and that program is going broke!
The Problem is Cost of Care by Michael Munger who is a professor of economics, and the chair of the political science department, at Duke University.
Excerpt:
The problem is that health care costs have increased at an annual rate double, or more than double, the rate of inflation for the last two decades. Right now, our attempts at reform are doomed by a law of accounting physics: Insurance can’t cost less than the health care it insures. That means that subsidizing insurance likely makes the problem worse.
Cato's What Is the Free-Market Approach to Health Care Reform? is another that goes beyond the usual mantras of "public option" and "mandated insurance."
Excerpt:
We also need to rethink medical licensing laws to encourage greater competition among providers. Nurse practitioners, physician assistants, midwives, and other non-physician practitioners should have far greater ability to treat patients. Doctors and other health professionals should be able to take their licenses from state to state. We should also be encouraging innovations in delivery such as medical clinics in retail outlets.
This sounds a bit like what I heard a couple of decades ago when I was an undergraduate at UCLA. For fun, I took a class in the School of Public Health about Health Care Systems. It was a survey of the different methods health care was delivered in the USA in the 1980s. It touched on how some other countries do it also and discussed some of the problems and challenges ahead.
One of the comments that stuck was when one of the profs remarked, we need more "Doc in the Box!"
The point was that a lot of what doctors deal with are pretty mundane.
So I suppose real reform will need for all interest groups to take a hit:
Patients - bearing a higher percentage of the cost of our own care.
Doctors - allowing non-MDs to carry more of the work load.
Insurance companies - tighter regulations on them regarding denial of coverage on pre-existing conditions.
Trial lawyers - tort reform to help reduce the cost of malpractice insurance and excessive defensive medicine.
Government bureaucrats - might they realize that the solution big government believers want is actually making the problem worse? The government already has a big hand in health insurance through the Medicare program and that program is going broke!
Devotional Thoughts: God's elect, strangers in the world
As far as I can tell, there is no other Bible book that deals with suffering as directly as Job. But I think 1 Peter and 2 Peter do touch on the subject a bit more than many other writings of Scripture. These two books discuss many other topics as well.
So let's take a look ...
Let's get to the introduction.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
image source: http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Exterior/StPeterStatue/StPeter-Apos.jpg
I hope someday to visit St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
I would venture to say that Peter was probably the most famous of the 12 disciples as he was the most outspoken of the bunch sometimes to his detriment!
It is generally believed by scholars that the Gospel of Mark was influenced strongly by Peter's preaching. The Book of Acts which chronicles the growth of the early church has much material about Peter (Chapters 1-12). The Book of Acts eventually followed the role of Paul in the advancement of the church (Chapters 13-28).
Some scholars question whether Peter could have written I and II Peter because he was a plain old fisherman from Galilee.
Though Peter would not have had the high level of education of a Jewish rabbi, being a good Jew, he would had a solid knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. He would also, of course, have had the benefit of sitting at the feet of Jesus!
It should be noted also that he give up the fisherman's life and would have spent much more time contemplating the teachings he heard from Jesus, re-examining the Hebrew Scriptures in that light, discussing with the other Apostles and the Holy Spirit was promised to the disciples to help them.
We can also speculate on the role Silas may have had in helping him craft this letter.
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
image source: http://www.bible-history.com/maps/asia_minor.html
Today, Turkey is an almost exclusively Muslim country with a small number of Christians. But way back at the beginning of the church, Jesus followers could be found there, a small number also, in what was probably a society dominated by Greek and Roman polytheism.
who have been chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Isn't this re-assuring?
These believers, whom Peter called strangers in the world, were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God!?
Won't delve into the philosophical implications of that here! 8-)
But it is re-assuring to know that God knew!
There is also the sanctifying work of the Spirit ... we are being made holy and pure.
This work was begun by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus for the purpose of our being obedient to Jesus.
All three persons of the Trinity are involved in our lives!
And so abundant grace and peace can be available to us.
Thank you Lord that you were not content to see us lost in this world alienated from you and living in turmoil. Instead you sent Jesus. Instead you sent the Spirit. You have called us to something better... to yourself. Thanks be to God! Amen.
So let's take a look ...
Let's get to the introduction.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
image source: http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Exterior/StPeterStatue/StPeter-Apos.jpg
I hope someday to visit St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
I would venture to say that Peter was probably the most famous of the 12 disciples as he was the most outspoken of the bunch sometimes to his detriment!
It is generally believed by scholars that the Gospel of Mark was influenced strongly by Peter's preaching. The Book of Acts which chronicles the growth of the early church has much material about Peter (Chapters 1-12). The Book of Acts eventually followed the role of Paul in the advancement of the church (Chapters 13-28).
Some scholars question whether Peter could have written I and II Peter because he was a plain old fisherman from Galilee.
Though Peter would not have had the high level of education of a Jewish rabbi, being a good Jew, he would had a solid knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. He would also, of course, have had the benefit of sitting at the feet of Jesus!
It should be noted also that he give up the fisherman's life and would have spent much more time contemplating the teachings he heard from Jesus, re-examining the Hebrew Scriptures in that light, discussing with the other Apostles and the Holy Spirit was promised to the disciples to help them.
We can also speculate on the role Silas may have had in helping him craft this letter.
To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
image source: http://www.bible-history.com/maps/asia_minor.html
Today, Turkey is an almost exclusively Muslim country with a small number of Christians. But way back at the beginning of the church, Jesus followers could be found there, a small number also, in what was probably a society dominated by Greek and Roman polytheism.
who have been chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Isn't this re-assuring?
These believers, whom Peter called strangers in the world, were chosen according to the foreknowledge of God!?
Won't delve into the philosophical implications of that here! 8-)
But it is re-assuring to know that God knew!
There is also the sanctifying work of the Spirit ... we are being made holy and pure.
This work was begun by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus for the purpose of our being obedient to Jesus.
All three persons of the Trinity are involved in our lives!
And so abundant grace and peace can be available to us.
Thank you Lord that you were not content to see us lost in this world alienated from you and living in turmoil. Instead you sent Jesus. Instead you sent the Spirit. You have called us to something better... to yourself. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Science: Climategate and questions I would want to have answered
Yes, Drudge can add sensationalized headlines to items and highlight odd stories.
But most of the time, he just links to articles that he thinks are interesting.
And so he links to an item that says Al Gore was confused on the emails regarding the "Climategate" scandal.
From that item, there are links to various web pages that highlight why some people are skeptical of man-caused global warming.
The daisy-chain as Dennis Prager points out is as follows:
(1) human activity produces CO2
(2) there are temperature increases
(3) CO2 increases lead to temperature increases
(4) temperature increases will result in calamity.
This is what I would want to know:
Statement #1 is probably true. But in the history of the planet has there been times when CO2 were higher than the are today which would have occurred without human activity?
Is statement #2 actually true? Modern technology gives us good temperature data from many locations. But that is using current technology. How good is the data when you go back into history? How do you figure out the temperature when nobody was sitting around with thermometers to measure it?
Is statement #3 actually true? In science there is causation and correlation. Is CO2 the cause of temperature increases? Or are temperature increases the cause of CO2 increases? Or is there some other factor driving the temperature like solar activity?
Statement #4 would be true if we get many degrees of increase in temperature. In the past, there have been ice ages when temperatures dropped which would be bad too! And in the past, there have been much warmer temperatures. So the question is, how many degrees will the temperatures rise, if indeed they are rising? There is a huge difference between global warming of 1 degree C versus 6 degree C.
I'd also want to know why man-made global warming advocates dismiss skeptics by saying they make money from energy companies (I'm sure some do but probably don't) when it could be said that global warming researchers make money from grants studying global warming?
This last question is rhetorical but the previous ones are real questions I'd have about the science of climate change.
UPDATE: Prager rounds up latest problems with global warming in regards to Himalayan glaciers melting.
But most of the time, he just links to articles that he thinks are interesting.
And so he links to an item that says Al Gore was confused on the emails regarding the "Climategate" scandal.
From that item, there are links to various web pages that highlight why some people are skeptical of man-caused global warming.
The daisy-chain as Dennis Prager points out is as follows:
(1) human activity produces CO2
(2) there are temperature increases
(3) CO2 increases lead to temperature increases
(4) temperature increases will result in calamity.
This is what I would want to know:
Statement #1 is probably true. But in the history of the planet has there been times when CO2 were higher than the are today which would have occurred without human activity?
Is statement #2 actually true? Modern technology gives us good temperature data from many locations. But that is using current technology. How good is the data when you go back into history? How do you figure out the temperature when nobody was sitting around with thermometers to measure it?
Is statement #3 actually true? In science there is causation and correlation. Is CO2 the cause of temperature increases? Or are temperature increases the cause of CO2 increases? Or is there some other factor driving the temperature like solar activity?
Statement #4 would be true if we get many degrees of increase in temperature. In the past, there have been ice ages when temperatures dropped which would be bad too! And in the past, there have been much warmer temperatures. So the question is, how many degrees will the temperatures rise, if indeed they are rising? There is a huge difference between global warming of 1 degree C versus 6 degree C.
I'd also want to know why man-made global warming advocates dismiss skeptics by saying they make money from energy companies (I'm sure some do but probably don't) when it could be said that global warming researchers make money from grants studying global warming?
This last question is rhetorical but the previous ones are real questions I'd have about the science of climate change.
UPDATE: Prager rounds up latest problems with global warming in regards to Himalayan glaciers melting.
Life: Adrenaline junkies with invisible capes and angel wings
Be sure to check out this profile on the ER nurses of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Excerpt:
ER nurses don’t give long-term care. They don’t get to know you, and they don’t even know what happens to you after you leave the ER. They are a platoon of adrenaline junkies with invisible capes and angel wings, there to take care of you at your worst moments. And it never ends. “Patients are like waves of ocean hitting the beach,” Shari says. “New ones just replace the old ones.”
As someone who has been on a gurney at the CSMC ER, I can only say, where do we find such people? Thank God for each one of them!
Excerpt:
ER nurses don’t give long-term care. They don’t get to know you, and they don’t even know what happens to you after you leave the ER. They are a platoon of adrenaline junkies with invisible capes and angel wings, there to take care of you at your worst moments. And it never ends. “Patients are like waves of ocean hitting the beach,” Shari says. “New ones just replace the old ones.”
As someone who has been on a gurney at the CSMC ER, I can only say, where do we find such people? Thank God for each one of them!
Non-profit of the month: November 2009 - For the Troops and Reagan Library
Went to the Ronald Reagan Library on Veteran's Day.
While there, there were some folks taking contributions to support For the Troops.
President Obama has asked the military and their families for more sacrifice with his plan to send 30,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan. He and they need our support in for this difficult, dangerous and important mission.
Of course, many tens of thousands are already there and will have spent Thanksgiving and will spend Christmas away from home. Thus, I felt the desire to support For the Troops.
There are many other like-minded groups and I hope you will consider giving what you can.
I am also supporting the Ronald Reagan Foundation because I cast my first presidential vote for Reagan in 1984 and for many today what he did is ancient history.
2009 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
None will ever forget that JFK stood there in solidarity with the people of Berlin.
RR stood there in solidarity with the people of Berlin too and saw that the wall was cracking and with his strong leadership in deeds and simple words helped push it down.
Thank you JFK and RR for leadership and THANK YOU to all the US armed forces who have fought for and defended freedom through the decades.
While there, there were some folks taking contributions to support For the Troops.
President Obama has asked the military and their families for more sacrifice with his plan to send 30,000 additional soldiers to Afghanistan. He and they need our support in for this difficult, dangerous and important mission.
Of course, many tens of thousands are already there and will have spent Thanksgiving and will spend Christmas away from home. Thus, I felt the desire to support For the Troops.
There are many other like-minded groups and I hope you will consider giving what you can.
I am also supporting the Ronald Reagan Foundation because I cast my first presidential vote for Reagan in 1984 and for many today what he did is ancient history.
2009 marked the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
None will ever forget that JFK stood there in solidarity with the people of Berlin.
RR stood there in solidarity with the people of Berlin too and saw that the wall was cracking and with his strong leadership in deeds and simple words helped push it down.
Thank you JFK and RR for leadership and THANK YOU to all the US armed forces who have fought for and defended freedom through the decades.
Faith: A Kinder and Gentler Jonathan Edwards
When you hear the name Jonathan Edwards, what do you think of?
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
The other day I was web surfing and came across the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University.
Apparently, Yale has become the repository of the written materials of Jonathan Edwards.
One very interesting part of the web site is an online exhibit of Billy Graham preaching a variation on Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God during the 1949 Los Angeles Crusade.
One wonders could a sermon like that be preached today and how different would it sound and read?
As you might expect the web site also has information about Edwards beyond his religious writings.
Perhaps most moving was his reflections about his wife in On Sarah Pierpont.
Excerpt:
She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those times in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about, singing sweetly, from place to [place]; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
The other day I was web surfing and came across the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University.
Apparently, Yale has become the repository of the written materials of Jonathan Edwards.
One very interesting part of the web site is an online exhibit of Billy Graham preaching a variation on Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God during the 1949 Los Angeles Crusade.
One wonders could a sermon like that be preached today and how different would it sound and read?
As you might expect the web site also has information about Edwards beyond his religious writings.
Perhaps most moving was his reflections about his wife in On Sarah Pierpont.
Excerpt:
She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind; especially after those times in which this great God has manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about, singing sweetly, from place to [place]; and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure; and no one knows for what. She loves to be alone, and to wander in the fields and on the mountains, and seems to have someone invisible always conversing with her.
Life: Thanksgiving 2009 & Small Bowel Obstruction, episode IV
Thanksgiving day is coming to a close.
There is much to be thankful for.
I am thankful that God has "shown up."
God demonstrated his love for us while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Words like sin don't go over so well these days. But looking in our lives and around the world, there is the sense that things are not the way they should be. We can call those things by many names: injustice, unfairness, suffering, crime, racism, alienation, etc.
Bottom line: sin.
Ugly three letter word.
But Jesus came to give us life and began the process of restoration. Thanks be to God!
Am thankful for God's gracious gift of my beloved bride! She has been a source of joy, encouragement, strength, humor, faith and simple day-to-day partnership. The aforementioned have especially been true during my latest hospitalization.
Am thankful for the nurses, doctors and staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
On Saturday morning, October 31, my father-in-law and wife drove me to the ER with the familiar abdominal pain mixed with a fever and body aches.
For followers of this blog, you know I have been hospitalized for small bowel obstruction in 2004, 2005 and earlier in 2009. This ailment is usually treatable but anytime you get admitted as an inpatient in a hospital, it is a concern. And any condition that might require surgery is serious.
The initial x-ray and CT didn't indicate bowel obstruction but my symptoms and prior medical history couldn't be ignored so I was admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for overnight observation.
Because of my fever (the docs said at one point I was at 102) and muscle aches and shivering, the MDs thought it was possible I was suffering from a bad bout of "some kind of virus messing with my guts." If so, it should clear up and I would be out of the hospital.
Alas, Sunday morning, from midnight to 6am, the waves of abdominal cramps hit. I was given morphine twice during that time.
The x-ray this time clearly suggested small bowel obstruction.
By Monday, the NG tube went in. Tuesday's x-ray didn't look much better and surgery was a possibility.
This surgeon blogger described the issues around small bowel obstruction and when surgery would be called for.
Wednesday's x-ray looked better and they turned off the suction on the NG tube and waited to see if much fluid accumulated. It didn't so the NG tube came out and I had broth for dinner. Thursday was more broth for breakfast and soup for lunch. I was released by mid-afternoon Thursday, November 5.
A big thank you to the medical professionals at CSMC!
Disclaimer: The material above is a description of my health experience. Though I have attempted to be accurate I am not a medical professional. If you are in need of actual medical advice, please contact your physician.
There is much to be thankful for.
I am thankful that God has "shown up."
God demonstrated his love for us while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Words like sin don't go over so well these days. But looking in our lives and around the world, there is the sense that things are not the way they should be. We can call those things by many names: injustice, unfairness, suffering, crime, racism, alienation, etc.
Bottom line: sin.
Ugly three letter word.
But Jesus came to give us life and began the process of restoration. Thanks be to God!
Am thankful for God's gracious gift of my beloved bride! She has been a source of joy, encouragement, strength, humor, faith and simple day-to-day partnership. The aforementioned have especially been true during my latest hospitalization.
Am thankful for the nurses, doctors and staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
On Saturday morning, October 31, my father-in-law and wife drove me to the ER with the familiar abdominal pain mixed with a fever and body aches.
For followers of this blog, you know I have been hospitalized for small bowel obstruction in 2004, 2005 and earlier in 2009. This ailment is usually treatable but anytime you get admitted as an inpatient in a hospital, it is a concern. And any condition that might require surgery is serious.
The initial x-ray and CT didn't indicate bowel obstruction but my symptoms and prior medical history couldn't be ignored so I was admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for overnight observation.
Because of my fever (the docs said at one point I was at 102) and muscle aches and shivering, the MDs thought it was possible I was suffering from a bad bout of "some kind of virus messing with my guts." If so, it should clear up and I would be out of the hospital.
Alas, Sunday morning, from midnight to 6am, the waves of abdominal cramps hit. I was given morphine twice during that time.
The x-ray this time clearly suggested small bowel obstruction.
By Monday, the NG tube went in. Tuesday's x-ray didn't look much better and surgery was a possibility.
This surgeon blogger described the issues around small bowel obstruction and when surgery would be called for.
Wednesday's x-ray looked better and they turned off the suction on the NG tube and waited to see if much fluid accumulated. It didn't so the NG tube came out and I had broth for dinner. Thursday was more broth for breakfast and soup for lunch. I was released by mid-afternoon Thursday, November 5.
A big thank you to the medical professionals at CSMC!
Disclaimer: The material above is a description of my health experience. Though I have attempted to be accurate I am not a medical professional. If you are in need of actual medical advice, please contact your physician.
Sports: Bowl pecking order for Pac-10
#1 Pac10 team goes to ROSE Bowl
#2 Pac10 team goes to HOLIDAY Bowl, 12/30
#3 Pac10 team goes to SUN Bowl, 12/31
#4 Pac10 team goes to Las Vegas Bowl, 12/22
#5 Pac10 team goes to Emerald Bowl, 12/26
Looks like the Poinsettia Bowl will take the #6 Pac10 team if it is bowl eligible and Arizona is currently #6 and bowl eligible.
UCLA is currently the #7 Pac10 team and is bowl eligible so it could get an invitation from a bowl that has an at-large open slot.
Certainly, an upset win on Saturday over USC would help UCLA's bowling chances.
Go Bruins!
#2 Pac10 team goes to HOLIDAY Bowl, 12/30
#3 Pac10 team goes to SUN Bowl, 12/31
#4 Pac10 team goes to Las Vegas Bowl, 12/22
#5 Pac10 team goes to Emerald Bowl, 12/26
Looks like the Poinsettia Bowl will take the #6 Pac10 team if it is bowl eligible and Arizona is currently #6 and bowl eligible.
UCLA is currently the #7 Pac10 team and is bowl eligible so it could get an invitation from a bowl that has an at-large open slot.
Certainly, an upset win on Saturday over USC would help UCLA's bowling chances.
Go Bruins!
Devotional Thoughts: And so he died, old and full of years ...
The Epilogue to Job ...
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
And so after all the turmoil and shouting and questioning and arguing, we do reach, "and they lived happily ever after ..."
Did Job know he was on the center stage in a spiritual battle described in Job 1-2?
We don't know.
If he did know, he didn't appear to make any comment about it. If he did know, God's "answer" of I am the Creator and you are not was enough for Job.
And so what if Job never knew about the spiritual battle?
God showing up was enough.
Each of us faces struggles in life. In my humanity, I know I have sometimes, often times, asked WHY?
Yancey in his book, Disappointment with God suggested getting an answer to the WHY question might not actually help us because God's perspective is so much larger than ours.
And so our WHY question is washed away when we sense we are not alone. God "showing up" through Jesus. God "showing up" by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. God "showing up" when we are loved by family and friends. And indeed, God "shows up" in the kindness of strangers.
Is the story of Job true?
It is definitely true in the existential sense that all of us struggle with suffering and that we can argue ourselves into knots trying to explain it to ourselves and each other.
It is definitely true in that God "showing up" makes all the difference in the world.
But was the story "literally" true?
Will we meet Job in the afterlife?
If Job is a moral story than Job may or may not be a literal person. He could be a stand-in everyman for all who have faced suffering. The power of this tale doesn't rest on Job existing as is.
But, if Job was a literal person, did the story happen as literally described?
Job as a book has literary style. It is Hebrew poetry.
We do not talk to our friends in poetry. We talk in prose. We can reflect on life in poetry.
And so perhaps Job was a real man who suffered and his story was memorialized in the poetry of this book.
Another hint of "editing" or "stylizing" in Job was the speeches of Elihu.
Job was visited by his three friends and Job prayed for them.
As a side point, isn't it interesting how in life we go to comfort the sufferer and the sufferer winds up comforting the comforters?
But back to the idea of literary forms... Elihu isn't mentioned as one of the three friends yet he spoke in chapters 32-37 in pretty strong terms!
He was younger than the other three and held back until the end.
Yet, he isn't mentioned in any other way with the three friends.
Was he there all along and omitted in the friends list? Maybe he wasn't really close at all?
Or perhaps those chapters were added later?
Elihu's comments do have elements in common with God's speech at the very end. Maybe it was added by the editors of Job to foreshadow what God would say?
Don't know.
But whether Job's story is more or less as it was in here, underwent some editing or was a moral tale, I think the message stands regardless: suffering is real and our only comfort is having God show up not so much to explain it but to show us he cares for us as individuals.
"God with us" ... Immanuel = Heb. God with us. Jesus the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Lord, thank you that you invite me to bring my complaints to you. You hear my prayers. Thank you that you were not content to allow the world to continue in its course and so sent Abraham, Moses, the Prophets and most significantly Jesus. Though things seem lost now, you are at work restoring. Help me to receive that restoration and be an agent of it. Amen.
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.
After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
And so after all the turmoil and shouting and questioning and arguing, we do reach, "and they lived happily ever after ..."
Did Job know he was on the center stage in a spiritual battle described in Job 1-2?
We don't know.
If he did know, he didn't appear to make any comment about it. If he did know, God's "answer" of I am the Creator and you are not was enough for Job.
And so what if Job never knew about the spiritual battle?
God showing up was enough.
Each of us faces struggles in life. In my humanity, I know I have sometimes, often times, asked WHY?
Yancey in his book, Disappointment with God suggested getting an answer to the WHY question might not actually help us because God's perspective is so much larger than ours.
And so our WHY question is washed away when we sense we are not alone. God "showing up" through Jesus. God "showing up" by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. God "showing up" when we are loved by family and friends. And indeed, God "shows up" in the kindness of strangers.
Is the story of Job true?
It is definitely true in the existential sense that all of us struggle with suffering and that we can argue ourselves into knots trying to explain it to ourselves and each other.
It is definitely true in that God "showing up" makes all the difference in the world.
But was the story "literally" true?
Will we meet Job in the afterlife?
If Job is a moral story than Job may or may not be a literal person. He could be a stand-in everyman for all who have faced suffering. The power of this tale doesn't rest on Job existing as is.
But, if Job was a literal person, did the story happen as literally described?
Job as a book has literary style. It is Hebrew poetry.
We do not talk to our friends in poetry. We talk in prose. We can reflect on life in poetry.
And so perhaps Job was a real man who suffered and his story was memorialized in the poetry of this book.
Another hint of "editing" or "stylizing" in Job was the speeches of Elihu.
Job was visited by his three friends and Job prayed for them.
As a side point, isn't it interesting how in life we go to comfort the sufferer and the sufferer winds up comforting the comforters?
But back to the idea of literary forms... Elihu isn't mentioned as one of the three friends yet he spoke in chapters 32-37 in pretty strong terms!
He was younger than the other three and held back until the end.
Yet, he isn't mentioned in any other way with the three friends.
Was he there all along and omitted in the friends list? Maybe he wasn't really close at all?
Or perhaps those chapters were added later?
Elihu's comments do have elements in common with God's speech at the very end. Maybe it was added by the editors of Job to foreshadow what God would say?
Don't know.
But whether Job's story is more or less as it was in here, underwent some editing or was a moral tale, I think the message stands regardless: suffering is real and our only comfort is having God show up not so much to explain it but to show us he cares for us as individuals.
"God with us" ... Immanuel = Heb. God with us. Jesus the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Lord, thank you that you invite me to bring my complaints to you. You hear my prayers. Thank you that you were not content to allow the world to continue in its course and so sent Abraham, Moses, the Prophets and most significantly Jesus. Though things seem lost now, you are at work restoring. Help me to receive that restoration and be an agent of it. Amen.
Sports: UCLA vs. ASU this Saturday
There are no national championship implications.
There are no BCS implications.
They aren't vying for the Pac10 title.
Both teams are clawing at the chance to be bowl eligible with 6 wins.
For UCLA a win gets them their sixth.
For ASU a win gets them their fifth which allows them a shot at six on their final game of the regular season.
So in the grand scheme of College Football, the game is an after thought.
But for Bruins fans who have seen the program fall on hard times, this is a big moment.
After last season's 4-8 finish, the goal this year was six wins and a shot at a bowl game.
They are on the verge.
Wall-to-wall coverage can be found at the "blog of the Bruins, by the Bruins, for the Bruins."
Go BRUINS!
UPDATE: Bruins 23 ASU 13! The Bruins now have a shot at going bowling. Next week, it is the showdown with dreaded cross-town rival, USC. They have won 9 of the last 10 faceoffs. I would anticipate USC would be favored despite the struggles they have had this year. Nonetheless, UCLA fans go into this edition of the game with more hope than usual!
GO BRUINS!!!!
There are no BCS implications.
They aren't vying for the Pac10 title.
Both teams are clawing at the chance to be bowl eligible with 6 wins.
For UCLA a win gets them their sixth.
For ASU a win gets them their fifth which allows them a shot at six on their final game of the regular season.
So in the grand scheme of College Football, the game is an after thought.
But for Bruins fans who have seen the program fall on hard times, this is a big moment.
After last season's 4-8 finish, the goal this year was six wins and a shot at a bowl game.
They are on the verge.
Wall-to-wall coverage can be found at the "blog of the Bruins, by the Bruins, for the Bruins."
Go BRUINS!
UPDATE: Bruins 23 ASU 13! The Bruins now have a shot at going bowling. Next week, it is the showdown with dreaded cross-town rival, USC. They have won 9 of the last 10 faceoffs. I would anticipate USC would be favored despite the struggles they have had this year. Nonetheless, UCLA fans go into this edition of the game with more hope than usual!
GO BRUINS!!!!
Non-profit of the month: September 2009 - TeachOverseas.Org
In these monthly posts about organizations I support, some have re-appeared from time-to-time. I'm a supporter of TeachOverseas.Org.
This wonderful organization is marking its 20th Anniversary:
The autumn of 1989 was an exciting time in world history. The Berlin wall came down with a bang that sounded an era of hope to people living in the Eastern and Soviet Blocs. At the same time, in Alhambra, California a small non-profit with a bold vision to change the world was born.
How could ordinary Christians from North America make a strategic impact in these newly declared republics? TeachOverseas co-founder and President Ron Nicholas had an idea: train and send Christian English teachers to serve local people in the spirit of Christ’s love.
The first teachers went to Hungary and were hugely successful in building bridges of friendship and trust. New doors opened in Ukraine and Russia. TeachOverseas’ reputation for quality English teachers with high moral standards grew. Soon, school administrators in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan welcomed TeachOverseas teachers with open arms.
This year celebrates 20 years of TeachOverseas’ global service and outreach. Through TeachOverseas, over 200,000 students in a dozen different countries have been influenced by a Christian teacher.
This wonderful organization is marking its 20th Anniversary:
The autumn of 1989 was an exciting time in world history. The Berlin wall came down with a bang that sounded an era of hope to people living in the Eastern and Soviet Blocs. At the same time, in Alhambra, California a small non-profit with a bold vision to change the world was born.
How could ordinary Christians from North America make a strategic impact in these newly declared republics? TeachOverseas co-founder and President Ron Nicholas had an idea: train and send Christian English teachers to serve local people in the spirit of Christ’s love.
The first teachers went to Hungary and were hugely successful in building bridges of friendship and trust. New doors opened in Ukraine and Russia. TeachOverseas’ reputation for quality English teachers with high moral standards grew. Soon, school administrators in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan welcomed TeachOverseas teachers with open arms.
This year celebrates 20 years of TeachOverseas’ global service and outreach. Through TeachOverseas, over 200,000 students in a dozen different countries have been influenced by a Christian teacher.
Non-profit of the month: October 2009 - National Parks Foundation and Joshua Tree National Park Association
Very much enjoyed the segments I saw of Ken Burn's National Parks that recently aired on PBS.
Thus, I am donating to National Park Foundation.
While I was at it, I figured, I'll donate to the closest National Park I know of to where I live which is Joshua Tree National Park.
The non-profit connected to the park is, of course, the Joshua Tree National Park Association.
Devotional Thoughts: My ears had heard of you
And so we reach the end of the story ...
Then Job replied to the LORD :
I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.
When confronted with God, what is there to say?
God is holy. But what does Holy mean?
One simple answer I heard was that holy is all that makes God God and not us!
Though we are made in the image of God, that image is now marred. That is why we look at the world with a sense of unease and a sense that things are not the way they should be. Thus, in many ways God is so completely different than us. He is so "other" (holy) compared to us.
When Isaiah met God, he said, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Are we stuck in this place of ruin?
Yes ... unless ... we recognize our state and allow God to restore!
For Isaiah, it came out this way: Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Lord, have mercy. On too many occasions I have walked in the opposite direction you want. All too often my thoughts are of self and not You and others. Yet, though you are holy and totally other than me, you have made a path for restoration. Thank you for such a gift. Help me to live in that. Amen
Then Job replied to the LORD :
I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?'
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.'
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.
When confronted with God, what is there to say?
God is holy. But what does Holy mean?
One simple answer I heard was that holy is all that makes God God and not us!
Though we are made in the image of God, that image is now marred. That is why we look at the world with a sense of unease and a sense that things are not the way they should be. Thus, in many ways God is so completely different than us. He is so "other" (holy) compared to us.
When Isaiah met God, he said, "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
Are we stuck in this place of ruin?
Yes ... unless ... we recognize our state and allow God to restore!
For Isaiah, it came out this way: Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Lord, have mercy. On too many occasions I have walked in the opposite direction you want. All too often my thoughts are of self and not You and others. Yet, though you are holy and totally other than me, you have made a path for restoration. Thank you for such a gift. Help me to live in that. Amen
Life: Pastor Timothy Lin, 1911-2009
LA Times Obituary October 20, 2009
Lin, Timothy
January 18, 1911 - October 11, 2009
Pastor Emeritus of the First Chinese Baptist Church, Los Angeles, passed away peacefully at the age of 99 on Sunday, October 11, 2009.
Dr. Timothy Lin was born to a minister's family in Chekiang, China. In 1940 he came to the United States to study Hebrew and Greek at Concordia Theological Seminary and Washington University.
Dr. Lin was a member of one of the Old Testament translation committees for the New American Standard Bible. He was a professor in the graduate school of Bob Jones University, where he taught Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Classic Arabic, and Peshitta Syriac. He was also a professor at Talbot Seminary, Los Angeles, and Trinity Evangelical Seminary, Chicago.
In 1962 he became pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles. When he retired as Senior Pastor a few years ago, the church had eight pastors, more than 2,200 in regular Lord's Day attendance, several mission churches with more than 300 in regular attendance. He served as the president of China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan from 1980 to 1990.
Visitation will be held on Friday, October 23, 2009 from 6:00 - 8:00p.m., in the Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, 3888 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601 (562)699-0921. There will be a memorial service (Celebration of Life Service) on October 24, 2009 at the First Chinese Baptist Church in Los Angeles, commencing at 12:00p.m. (213)687-0814
In Lieu of flowers, donation may be made to one of the following:
1. Dr. Lin Scholarship Fund of FCBC, LA (make it payable to FCBC)
2. Dr. Lin Scholarship Fund of CES, North America (make it payable to CESNA)
3. Dr. Lin building Fund of CES, Taiwan (make it payable to China Evangelical Seminary Association)
###
Dr. Timothy Lin was one of the pastors from the First Chinese Baptist Church of Chinatown LA where I went during my younger days. He had been having some health problems which was not surprising given his 99 years. Thus, when I had heard that he had left behind his earthly tent for the glorious presence of our God, I felt, amidst sadness, a sense of assurance.
I started attending FCBC fairly regularly when I was a high schooler about 30 years ago! Pastor Lin was already 69 years old and was transitioning out of pastoring FCBC to being a professor and president of the China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan. He would stand and preach without notes for 30, 60 and even 90 minutes expounding the Bible. He would draw from the Scriptures both Old and New Testament.
What I remember most was the passion and thoughtfulness in his preaching.
I benefit greatly from his metaphor connecting the contemplation of Scripture with the eating of food!
He would remind us that we may not remember what we had for breakfast 3 days ago just as we may not remember the sermon or the particular Bible reading from the day before but it was still food for our body (in the case of breakfast) and for our soul (in the case of that time spent grappling with the Scriptures). And so over time, with repeated hearing of the Word and reading of the Word and demonstration of the Word in the lives of others, what God cares about bit by bit becomes a part of our lives.
Though a great man of learning, he stressed that knowing Scripture though requiring thoughtfulness is not foremost an academic exercise but one of knowing God and enriching that relationship.
He would close the service with this benediction:
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who makes Your objective promises into our subjective blessing be with you all. Amen.
The faith and hope you held in our Lord has now been rewarded as the Great Shepherd welcomes you home with the commendation, well done good and faithful servant.
Lin, Timothy
January 18, 1911 - October 11, 2009
Pastor Emeritus of the First Chinese Baptist Church, Los Angeles, passed away peacefully at the age of 99 on Sunday, October 11, 2009.
Dr. Timothy Lin was born to a minister's family in Chekiang, China. In 1940 he came to the United States to study Hebrew and Greek at Concordia Theological Seminary and Washington University.
Dr. Lin was a member of one of the Old Testament translation committees for the New American Standard Bible. He was a professor in the graduate school of Bob Jones University, where he taught Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Classic Arabic, and Peshitta Syriac. He was also a professor at Talbot Seminary, Los Angeles, and Trinity Evangelical Seminary, Chicago.
In 1962 he became pastor of the First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles. When he retired as Senior Pastor a few years ago, the church had eight pastors, more than 2,200 in regular Lord's Day attendance, several mission churches with more than 300 in regular attendance. He served as the president of China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan from 1980 to 1990.
Visitation will be held on Friday, October 23, 2009 from 6:00 - 8:00p.m., in the Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary, 3888 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601 (562)699-0921. There will be a memorial service (Celebration of Life Service) on October 24, 2009 at the First Chinese Baptist Church in Los Angeles, commencing at 12:00p.m. (213)687-0814
In Lieu of flowers, donation may be made to one of the following:
1. Dr. Lin Scholarship Fund of FCBC, LA (make it payable to FCBC)
2. Dr. Lin Scholarship Fund of CES, North America (make it payable to CESNA)
3. Dr. Lin building Fund of CES, Taiwan (make it payable to China Evangelical Seminary Association)
###
Dr. Timothy Lin was one of the pastors from the First Chinese Baptist Church of Chinatown LA where I went during my younger days. He had been having some health problems which was not surprising given his 99 years. Thus, when I had heard that he had left behind his earthly tent for the glorious presence of our God, I felt, amidst sadness, a sense of assurance.
I started attending FCBC fairly regularly when I was a high schooler about 30 years ago! Pastor Lin was already 69 years old and was transitioning out of pastoring FCBC to being a professor and president of the China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan. He would stand and preach without notes for 30, 60 and even 90 minutes expounding the Bible. He would draw from the Scriptures both Old and New Testament.
What I remember most was the passion and thoughtfulness in his preaching.
I benefit greatly from his metaphor connecting the contemplation of Scripture with the eating of food!
He would remind us that we may not remember what we had for breakfast 3 days ago just as we may not remember the sermon or the particular Bible reading from the day before but it was still food for our body (in the case of breakfast) and for our soul (in the case of that time spent grappling with the Scriptures). And so over time, with repeated hearing of the Word and reading of the Word and demonstration of the Word in the lives of others, what God cares about bit by bit becomes a part of our lives.
Though a great man of learning, he stressed that knowing Scripture though requiring thoughtfulness is not foremost an academic exercise but one of knowing God and enriching that relationship.
He would close the service with this benediction:
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit who makes Your objective promises into our subjective blessing be with you all. Amen.
The faith and hope you held in our Lord has now been rewarded as the Great Shepherd welcomes you home with the commendation, well done good and faithful servant.
Business: 2001-2003 RAV4 Toyota Automatic Tranmission Problems
Love the car. But ...
It started to act up ...
Rough shifting between gears on a couple of occasions ...
When going up an incline, the car didn't seem to know it should downshift for more power so instead the car limped up the hill ...
Check engine light came on ...
That lead us to do some searchs on Google which brought up many web sites describing the problem.
Here is one on Toyotafans.net which refers to a bootlegged copy of the Technical Service Bulletin issued by Toyota describing the problem.
Even the New York Times is blogging about the problem.
The car is now in the shop and we are hoping that the transmission isn't torn up.
It started to act up ...
Rough shifting between gears on a couple of occasions ...
When going up an incline, the car didn't seem to know it should downshift for more power so instead the car limped up the hill ...
Check engine light came on ...
That lead us to do some searchs on Google which brought up many web sites describing the problem.
Here is one on Toyotafans.net which refers to a bootlegged copy of the Technical Service Bulletin issued by Toyota describing the problem.
Even the New York Times is blogging about the problem.
The car is now in the shop and we are hoping that the transmission isn't torn up.
Devotional Thoughts: Behemoth and Leviathan
Continuing toward the end of Job ...
Usually don't cover two chapters in one bite. But I figured addressing the "behemoth" and "leviathan" in one shot might be the way to go.
The LORD said to Job:
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!"
Job had pretty strong words in lamenting his situation to God through the many chapters.
And God went face-to-face with Job in return.
I suppose we can take comfort in the fact that when Job went toe-to-toe with God that Job didn't become a smoking hole in the ground.
Now, before we get too comfortable, God can turn cities full of people into ashes as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19.
Why the difference?
Sodom and Gomorrah was truly wicked ... Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous ... but Abraham begged God to spare the cities if 10 were found righteous. God said yes. Alas, not even 10 were found righteous and so Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
How about Job?
We know from the beginning of the story that he was a righteous man. He wasn't sinless because no man is sinless. But he was right with God by seeking to live rightly and when he went astray confessing and seeking God's forgiveness.
Was his complaints about God ... was that sin?
It seems that God would rather we go face-to-face with Him with our complaints than go off and live a life of sin ignoring God.
Then Job answered the LORD:
"I am unworthy - how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer -
twice, but I will say no more."
Job wanted an audience with God and got it. The questions melted away and he had nothing really left to say.
God continued to dwell on His power as His response to Job's complaints...
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
Prepare to defend yourself;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God's,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at all who are proud and bring them low,
look at all who are proud and humble them,
crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.
Some scholars think behemoth was the hippopotamus!
image source: http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/hippopotamus/
Look at the behemoth,
which I made along with you
and which feeds on grass like an ox.
What strength it has in its loins,
what power in the muscles of its belly!
Its tail sways like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.
Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like rods of iron.
It ranks first among the works of God,
yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.
The hills bring it their produce,
and all the wild animals play nearby.
Under the lotus plants it lies,
hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;
the poplars by the stream surround it.
A raging river does not alarm it;
it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.
Can anyone capture it by the eyes,
or trap it and pierce its nose?
I've seen some hippos while on safari. I suspect the fact that I saw them at a pretty safe distance inside a large vehicle made them seem less fearsome!
We now get a description of the leviathan.
Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak to you with gentle words?
Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.
No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Some experts say the leviathan is a crocodile while others say a whale.
What does it sound like to you from the description so far?
Did the ancients in the Middle East hunt for whales?
I suppose you could throw spears and harpoons at crocodiles.
I will not fail to speak of Leviathan's limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
Its back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
Now this part sure sounds more like an armored beast like the croc!
image source: http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/tsmith/new_page_14.htm
Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
Fire-breathing dragon of fantasy tales?
Or is it poetic license in describing how fearsome a crocodile is?
Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
Nothing on earth is its equal -
a creature without fear.
It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud.
Again, the ruggedly look of this creature seems more in line with a crocodile than a whale or some other ocean faring beast.
Some insist that these two creatures were dinosaurs because they seemed so terrible and frightening.
I think that might be a stretch.
To us, the hippo and croc aren't as fearsome because we now have guns.
But to the ancients, these beasts would be quite scary for they had mere spears.
As Job listened to God speak of these mighty creatures, he is reminded that God made them. GOD is mightier than the mightiest. And God deigns to speak with Job.
Lord Jesus, you are the God who speaks the words of this story of Job. Yet, you set aside the rights of that divinity to make yourself like us, like Job. You even humbled yourself to dying on a criminals cross. And so you are vindicated and exalted to the highest place so that we have nothing to say against you and instead bow down and thank you for your grace and love. Amen.
Usually don't cover two chapters in one bite. But I figured addressing the "behemoth" and "leviathan" in one shot might be the way to go.
The LORD said to Job:
"Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!"
Job had pretty strong words in lamenting his situation to God through the many chapters.
And God went face-to-face with Job in return.
I suppose we can take comfort in the fact that when Job went toe-to-toe with God that Job didn't become a smoking hole in the ground.
Now, before we get too comfortable, God can turn cities full of people into ashes as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18-19.
Why the difference?
Sodom and Gomorrah was truly wicked ... Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous ... but Abraham begged God to spare the cities if 10 were found righteous. God said yes. Alas, not even 10 were found righteous and so Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
How about Job?
We know from the beginning of the story that he was a righteous man. He wasn't sinless because no man is sinless. But he was right with God by seeking to live rightly and when he went astray confessing and seeking God's forgiveness.
Was his complaints about God ... was that sin?
It seems that God would rather we go face-to-face with Him with our complaints than go off and live a life of sin ignoring God.
Then Job answered the LORD:
"I am unworthy - how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I have no answer -
twice, but I will say no more."
Job wanted an audience with God and got it. The questions melted away and he had nothing really left to say.
God continued to dwell on His power as His response to Job's complaints...
Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
Prepare to defend yourself;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Would you discredit my justice?
Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God's,
and can your voice thunder like his?
Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
Unleash the fury of your wrath,
look at all who are proud and bring them low,
look at all who are proud and humble them,
crush the wicked where they stand.
Bury them all in the dust together;
shroud their faces in the grave.
Then I myself will admit to you
that your own right hand can save you.
Some scholars think behemoth was the hippopotamus!
image source: http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/hippopotamus/
Look at the behemoth,
which I made along with you
and which feeds on grass like an ox.
What strength it has in its loins,
what power in the muscles of its belly!
Its tail sways like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.
Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like rods of iron.
It ranks first among the works of God,
yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.
The hills bring it their produce,
and all the wild animals play nearby.
Under the lotus plants it lies,
hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;
the poplars by the stream surround it.
A raging river does not alarm it;
it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.
Can anyone capture it by the eyes,
or trap it and pierce its nose?
I've seen some hippos while on safari. I suspect the fact that I saw them at a pretty safe distance inside a large vehicle made them seem less fearsome!
We now get a description of the leviathan.
Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak to you with gentle words?
Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.
No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Some experts say the leviathan is a crocodile while others say a whale.
What does it sound like to you from the description so far?
Did the ancients in the Middle East hunt for whales?
I suppose you could throw spears and harpoons at crocodiles.
I will not fail to speak of Leviathan's limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
Its back has rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
Now this part sure sounds more like an armored beast like the croc!
image source: http://colquitt.k12.ga.us/tsmith/new_page_14.htm
Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
Fire-breathing dragon of fantasy tales?
Or is it poetic license in describing how fearsome a crocodile is?
Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
Nothing on earth is its equal -
a creature without fear.
It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud.
Again, the ruggedly look of this creature seems more in line with a crocodile than a whale or some other ocean faring beast.
Some insist that these two creatures were dinosaurs because they seemed so terrible and frightening.
I think that might be a stretch.
To us, the hippo and croc aren't as fearsome because we now have guns.
But to the ancients, these beasts would be quite scary for they had mere spears.
As Job listened to God speak of these mighty creatures, he is reminded that God made them. GOD is mightier than the mightiest. And God deigns to speak with Job.
Lord Jesus, you are the God who speaks the words of this story of Job. Yet, you set aside the rights of that divinity to make yourself like us, like Job. You even humbled yourself to dying on a criminals cross. And so you are vindicated and exalted to the highest place so that we have nothing to say against you and instead bow down and thank you for your grace and love. Amen.
Sports: A tale of two baseball games
Attended Game 1 and heard the dramatic finish to Game 2 on the radio during the commute home.
In game 1, both starting pitchers were struggling and the Dodger bullpen held onto the lead the Dodgers scratched out.
In game 2, both starting pitchers were on top of their game and the Cardinal bullpen (and left fielder) couldn't hold on.
Getting to Dodger's stadium in the heart of rush hour was a long slog on Wednesday. While waiting in line for food, the Dodgers fell behind 1-0 in the top of the 1st. As we walked to our seats, the crowd went crazy as Kemp gave the Dodgers the lead with a 2-run homer.
As we watched Wolf do a tightrope walk, during the 2nd inning I texted a friend who was also at the game saying, Wolf isn't getting out of the fourth. Indeed, Wolf would go only 3 2/3. But as he has done all year, he kept the Dodgers in the game, giving up 2 runs when he could have easily given up 4 or more. Weaver came into the game for Wolf and got the third out with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the fourth, with the Dodgers up 3-2, Manny hit a double and Ethier was held at third. The Cardinals bobbled the relay so he could have scored. Ethier remained stranded there. We thought aloud, three runs won't be enough tonight.
The Dodgers would push across two more runs. Furcal's sac fly RBI was an epic at bat. Every run helped as not surpringly, the Cardinals got their 3rd run but with a 3 run cushion, Broxton closed the game out striking out the tying run at the plate.
For more detail and artistic description of the game, see LAT's Weisman.
Weisman has been a must read all season long!
As I was driving home listening to game 2, when Loretta got the walk-off game winner, the driver in the car next to mine was shaking her head and laughing. Don't know if she was listening to the game but the timing was perfect as I too was shaking my head in disbelief and laughing and saying aloud, unbelievable.
Hear Vin's call of the game winning hit.
Check out Weisman on the belief monkeys of game 2.
In game 1, both starting pitchers were struggling and the Dodger bullpen held onto the lead the Dodgers scratched out.
In game 2, both starting pitchers were on top of their game and the Cardinal bullpen (and left fielder) couldn't hold on.
Getting to Dodger's stadium in the heart of rush hour was a long slog on Wednesday. While waiting in line for food, the Dodgers fell behind 1-0 in the top of the 1st. As we walked to our seats, the crowd went crazy as Kemp gave the Dodgers the lead with a 2-run homer.
As we watched Wolf do a tightrope walk, during the 2nd inning I texted a friend who was also at the game saying, Wolf isn't getting out of the fourth. Indeed, Wolf would go only 3 2/3. But as he has done all year, he kept the Dodgers in the game, giving up 2 runs when he could have easily given up 4 or more. Weaver came into the game for Wolf and got the third out with the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the fourth, with the Dodgers up 3-2, Manny hit a double and Ethier was held at third. The Cardinals bobbled the relay so he could have scored. Ethier remained stranded there. We thought aloud, three runs won't be enough tonight.
The Dodgers would push across two more runs. Furcal's sac fly RBI was an epic at bat. Every run helped as not surpringly, the Cardinals got their 3rd run but with a 3 run cushion, Broxton closed the game out striking out the tying run at the plate.
For more detail and artistic description of the game, see LAT's Weisman.
Weisman has been a must read all season long!
As I was driving home listening to game 2, when Loretta got the walk-off game winner, the driver in the car next to mine was shaking her head and laughing. Don't know if she was listening to the game but the timing was perfect as I too was shaking my head in disbelief and laughing and saying aloud, unbelievable.
Hear Vin's call of the game winning hit.
Check out Weisman on the belief monkeys of game 2.
Sports: LAD vs. STL, Game 1 NLDS 6:37PM PDT
Its time for Dodger Baseball!
I'll be in the rafters taking it all in!
3 of 4 Yahoo! Sports analysts are picking the Cards.
7 of 8 ESPN experts are predicting the Cardinals will advance.
11 of 12 on CNN/SI's panel are voting for St. Louis to take the NLDS.
Seem to recall that last year, not many were giving the Dodgers much of a chance against the Cubs.
Go Blue!
I'll be in the rafters taking it all in!
3 of 4 Yahoo! Sports analysts are picking the Cards.
7 of 8 ESPN experts are predicting the Cardinals will advance.
11 of 12 on CNN/SI's panel are voting for St. Louis to take the NLDS.
Seem to recall that last year, not many were giving the Dodgers much of a chance against the Cubs.
Go Blue!
LA Scene: L.A. Philharmonic Conductor Gustavo Dudamel Dog
The new LA Phil music director has a hot dog named after him at Pinks.
Contains: Stretch hot dog, guacamole, American & Swiss cheese, fajitasmix, jalapeno slice, topped with tortilla chips
Price: $6.95
For non-LA folks, Pinks is an LA institution.
Paul Pink started his hot dog stand in 1939. It was only a large-wheeled pushcart in those days. The depression was on and money was scarce. Pink's chili dogs, complete with a large warm bun, oversized hot dog, mustard, onions and thick chili sold for 10 cents each.
Contains: Stretch hot dog, guacamole, American & Swiss cheese, fajitasmix, jalapeno slice, topped with tortilla chips
Price: $6.95
For non-LA folks, Pinks is an LA institution.
Paul Pink started his hot dog stand in 1939. It was only a large-wheeled pushcart in those days. The depression was on and money was scarce. Pink's chili dogs, complete with a large warm bun, oversized hot dog, mustard, onions and thick chili sold for 10 cents each.
LA Scene: Dodgers vs. St. Louis in NLDS!
Am guessing the Dodgers are the underdogs against St. Louis.
The 25-man roster hasn't been announced yet...
I wonder how many pitchers will they select for the NLDS. Shorter series probably eleven.
My guess for the 25-man roster...
1. Broxton, Closer
2. Sherrill, 8th inning
3. Kuo, 7th inning
4. Belisario, relief
5. Elbert, relief
6. Weaver, long relief
7. Garland, emergency starter, long relief
8. Wolf, #1 starter
9. Kershaw, #2 starter
10. Padilla, #3 starter
11. Billingsley, #4 starter
Catchers
12. Martin
13. Ausmus
Infield
14. Loney
15. Hudson
16. Blake
17. Furcal
18. Belliard
19. Loretta
20. Castro
21. Thome
Outfield
22. Ramierez
23. Kemp
24. Ethier
25. Pierre
Go Blue!
UPDATE: The Dodger 25-man roster has been announced. I incorrectly thought they would go with Elbert over Troncoso.
The 25-man roster hasn't been announced yet...
I wonder how many pitchers will they select for the NLDS. Shorter series probably eleven.
My guess for the 25-man roster...
1. Broxton, Closer
2. Sherrill, 8th inning
3. Kuo, 7th inning
4. Belisario, relief
5. Elbert, relief
6. Weaver, long relief
7. Garland, emergency starter, long relief
8. Wolf, #1 starter
9. Kershaw, #2 starter
10. Padilla, #3 starter
11. Billingsley, #4 starter
Catchers
12. Martin
13. Ausmus
Infield
14. Loney
15. Hudson
16. Blake
17. Furcal
18. Belliard
19. Loretta
20. Castro
21. Thome
Outfield
22. Ramierez
23. Kemp
24. Ethier
25. Pierre
Go Blue!
UPDATE: The Dodger 25-man roster has been announced. I incorrectly thought they would go with Elbert over Troncoso.
Science: CCD & Fiber Optics researchers honored with Nobel Prize
2009 Physics Nobel Prize has been announced today.
We use the technology recognized by the committee every day!
Fiber optics are the backbone of telecommunications and CCD chips are what make digital cameras work to capture the moments of our lives. Thanks go to Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for their work that help us "stay in touch" and "keep our memories" in photos!
The day before, the Nobel Prize for medicine was given for work on telomeres which are on the ends of chromosomes. These telomeres in most cells degrade over time so cells age and eventually don't divide. Not surprisingly, this system is altered in cancer cells opening up another avenue for investigation. Congratulations to Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider for their work!
We use the technology recognized by the committee every day!
Fiber optics are the backbone of telecommunications and CCD chips are what make digital cameras work to capture the moments of our lives. Thanks go to Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for their work that help us "stay in touch" and "keep our memories" in photos!
The day before, the Nobel Prize for medicine was given for work on telomeres which are on the ends of chromosomes. These telomeres in most cells degrade over time so cells age and eventually don't divide. Not surprisingly, this system is altered in cancer cells opening up another avenue for investigation. Congratulations to Elizabeth Blackburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider for their work!
Politics: Rio gets Olympics while Chicago lost in round one
When I had heard that the President and First Lady were making a trip to support Chicago's bid for the Olympic games, I was surprised. I don't recall any other President doing so. But I figured that Chicago's organizers must have been pretty confident they would win because you wouldn't want to bring the President in on something that might go down to defeat.
So when I heard they lost the vote quite badly, I figured the Chicago people may have taken advantage of their connections to the President and overplayed their hand which reflects badly on them. Of course, one could say that President Obama should have been more shrewd and recognized that his Chicago friends didn't have the cards to win. In this scenario, team Obama probably royally chewed out the Chicago people for getting the President involved in a losing effort.
This morning while listening to the Prager radio show, an alternative explanation was offered.
Prager said, the alternative to the President being duped by the Chicago organizers is that they knew the bid was in trouble and President Obama stepped in because he was so confident in his powers of persuasion that he and they thought he could turn the whole thing around!
In one scenario, it was a political miscalculation. In the other scenario, it was hubris.
It may well have been scenario one. And certainly, any "leaks" about the fiasco would be to highlight scenario one. But if it is scenario two then I hope Team Obama becomes more realistic about their ability to shape events by rhetoric alone.
So when I heard they lost the vote quite badly, I figured the Chicago people may have taken advantage of their connections to the President and overplayed their hand which reflects badly on them. Of course, one could say that President Obama should have been more shrewd and recognized that his Chicago friends didn't have the cards to win. In this scenario, team Obama probably royally chewed out the Chicago people for getting the President involved in a losing effort.
This morning while listening to the Prager radio show, an alternative explanation was offered.
Prager said, the alternative to the President being duped by the Chicago organizers is that they knew the bid was in trouble and President Obama stepped in because he was so confident in his powers of persuasion that he and they thought he could turn the whole thing around!
In one scenario, it was a political miscalculation. In the other scenario, it was hubris.
It may well have been scenario one. And certainly, any "leaks" about the fiasco would be to highlight scenario one. But if it is scenario two then I hope Team Obama becomes more realistic about their ability to shape events by rhetoric alone.
LA Scene: Dudamel Era about to begin
Dudamel, the new LA Philharmonic music director arrived for his first rehearsal.
Excerpt:
Cameras -- still, video and really huge -- jammed the area; Philharmonic President Deborah Borda and Philharmonic board Chairman David Bohnett hovered in anticipation while Borda exulted that the Phil just gotten word that the NBC Nightly News was planning a Dudamel feature for Thursday.
There's really no such thing as a formal greeting when it comes to Dudamel -- as he stepped from the vehicle, he waved to the cheering musicians; but the wave gesture soon turned into a Dudamel-style fist, thrust exultantly into the air. He obediently posed for photos with Borda and Bohnett at the foot of the stairs, but was soon charging upward to distribute a generous round of hugs, especially to the musicians who played a welcome fanfare on the steps.
The reception by the musicians remains very positive.
Excerpt:
He added that the musicians see Dudamel not as their leader but as another member of the band -- just with a different role to play. "What's most important is his humility," Socher said. "Many conductors don't know what that word means -- much less exhibit it."
LAT's Swed is hopeful but trying to keep some perspective and humor on things.
Excerpt:
As for me, I'm preparing for the arrival this week of Gustavo Dudamel by charging my pocket Nikon. The camera will accompany me on daily walks along the beach, where I'm determined to get the first shot of the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic walking on water.
....
Forget rock stars. All too often they find things that work and get stuck. Either they don't grow because the feedback for what they already do is so addictive or because if they try to change, they find obstinate fan resistance.
....
What works now for Dudamel, what is so vibrant in a conductor in his 20s, will not work for a conductor in his 40s and would be creepy for a conductor in his 60s. At the moment, Dudamel is a fully fueled rocket. He has the energy, the intelligence and the curiosity to take on a variety of new works and projects. But he has his tricks that he relies on to create excitement before he is in full command of many pieces.
LAT's Johnson profiles what Dudamel is doing besides the LA Phil.
Excerpt:
At any given moment, Gustavo Dudamel might be catching a red-eye flight to Sweden, rehearsing young musicians in Venezuela, blazing a path through Mahler's First in Los Angeles or brainstorming with the head of his record label in Germany.
......
"He said to me the other day he wishes there were 600 days in a year," said Edward Smith, chief executive of Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony, Dudamel's other principal conducting gig. "Of course, he's doing too much, by anybody's normal standard, and I think he's beginning to realize it. But what is too much for Gustavo? What might be too much for an ordinary guy isn't too much for Gustavo."
We shall see how things develop. But for now, the city is buzzing as it awaits his welcome concert the Hollywood Bowl this Saturday, October 3 which has long ago had its free tickets all claimed and then the Gala at the Walt Disney on Thursday, October 8.
I have heard the LA Phil play under Dudamel's baton and feel the ensemble has exciting days ahead!
Bienvenido Gustavo!
Excerpt:
Cameras -- still, video and really huge -- jammed the area; Philharmonic President Deborah Borda and Philharmonic board Chairman David Bohnett hovered in anticipation while Borda exulted that the Phil just gotten word that the NBC Nightly News was planning a Dudamel feature for Thursday.
There's really no such thing as a formal greeting when it comes to Dudamel -- as he stepped from the vehicle, he waved to the cheering musicians; but the wave gesture soon turned into a Dudamel-style fist, thrust exultantly into the air. He obediently posed for photos with Borda and Bohnett at the foot of the stairs, but was soon charging upward to distribute a generous round of hugs, especially to the musicians who played a welcome fanfare on the steps.
The reception by the musicians remains very positive.
Excerpt:
He added that the musicians see Dudamel not as their leader but as another member of the band -- just with a different role to play. "What's most important is his humility," Socher said. "Many conductors don't know what that word means -- much less exhibit it."
LAT's Swed is hopeful but trying to keep some perspective and humor on things.
Excerpt:
As for me, I'm preparing for the arrival this week of Gustavo Dudamel by charging my pocket Nikon. The camera will accompany me on daily walks along the beach, where I'm determined to get the first shot of the new music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic walking on water.
....
Forget rock stars. All too often they find things that work and get stuck. Either they don't grow because the feedback for what they already do is so addictive or because if they try to change, they find obstinate fan resistance.
....
What works now for Dudamel, what is so vibrant in a conductor in his 20s, will not work for a conductor in his 40s and would be creepy for a conductor in his 60s. At the moment, Dudamel is a fully fueled rocket. He has the energy, the intelligence and the curiosity to take on a variety of new works and projects. But he has his tricks that he relies on to create excitement before he is in full command of many pieces.
LAT's Johnson profiles what Dudamel is doing besides the LA Phil.
Excerpt:
At any given moment, Gustavo Dudamel might be catching a red-eye flight to Sweden, rehearsing young musicians in Venezuela, blazing a path through Mahler's First in Los Angeles or brainstorming with the head of his record label in Germany.
......
"He said to me the other day he wishes there were 600 days in a year," said Edward Smith, chief executive of Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony, Dudamel's other principal conducting gig. "Of course, he's doing too much, by anybody's normal standard, and I think he's beginning to realize it. But what is too much for Gustavo? What might be too much for an ordinary guy isn't too much for Gustavo."
We shall see how things develop. But for now, the city is buzzing as it awaits his welcome concert the Hollywood Bowl this Saturday, October 3 which has long ago had its free tickets all claimed and then the Gala at the Walt Disney on Thursday, October 8.
I have heard the LA Phil play under Dudamel's baton and feel the ensemble has exciting days ahead!
Bienvenido Gustavo!
Life: Happiness is a Moral Obligation
Prager offers his thoughts on happiness.
For instance, acting happy is beneficial to those around us!
For instance, acting happy is beneficial to those around us!
Technology: Got to tip your hat to those MIT students!
image source: http://space.1337arts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/thumb.jpg
Balloon + digital camera + GPS cell phone + beer cooler + handwarmers = pictures of the Earth from high up.
Go here for their project web page. They hope to have a Youtube video of photos the camera took which was set to take pictures every 5 seconds.
Devotional Thoughts: What is spirituality?
Have you heard this self-description: non-religious but spiritual?
Being religious has gotten a lot of bad press, i.e. religious fanatic bombs cafe full of people. Religious also as in a clergyman involved in child abuse scandal. Or religious broadcaster involved in financial misdeeds.
Totally indefensible.
No wonder people run away from the label religious.
But what is spirituality?
Images: crystal power and harmonic convergences, meditation with incense and aroma candles, being out in nature and solitude ...
What is spirituality if I call Jesus Lord and Savior?
My guts tell me that the word spiritual has gotten diluted in the pluralism of our society and so many images get conjured up.
Also, in our American society, the term has become highly personal and individualized. The self-claimed spirituality of one person will be a salad bowl of items and the spirituality of another will be a salad bowl of different ingredients.
So when then is spirituality if I call Jesus Lord and Savior?
I think spirituality requires community.
There is a place for regular moments and seasons of individual solitude but when is spirituality truly put to the test and put to use?
Lately, at church, we have been looking at the idea of coming along side the other in reconciliation.
Spirituality requires the other to be present. The other who tries our forbearance. The other who needs our forgiveness. The other who I must seek forgiveness from. The other whom I love and serve.
And indeed, the most important other is God.
Without a vital and flourishing and dynamic relationship with God transforming and restoring us as individuals and in communities, our ability to relate to the other in any human context is limited to our own weak power.
And so spirituality requires community through which we can become what God intended and happens in a thriving relationship with God and with others manifesting itself in good character and good deeds.
Does this should too religious? Does it sound too nebulous?
Lord have mercy!
Being religious has gotten a lot of bad press, i.e. religious fanatic bombs cafe full of people. Religious also as in a clergyman involved in child abuse scandal. Or religious broadcaster involved in financial misdeeds.
Totally indefensible.
No wonder people run away from the label religious.
But what is spirituality?
Images: crystal power and harmonic convergences, meditation with incense and aroma candles, being out in nature and solitude ...
What is spirituality if I call Jesus Lord and Savior?
My guts tell me that the word spiritual has gotten diluted in the pluralism of our society and so many images get conjured up.
Also, in our American society, the term has become highly personal and individualized. The self-claimed spirituality of one person will be a salad bowl of items and the spirituality of another will be a salad bowl of different ingredients.
So when then is spirituality if I call Jesus Lord and Savior?
I think spirituality requires community.
There is a place for regular moments and seasons of individual solitude but when is spirituality truly put to the test and put to use?
Lately, at church, we have been looking at the idea of coming along side the other in reconciliation.
Spirituality requires the other to be present. The other who tries our forbearance. The other who needs our forgiveness. The other who I must seek forgiveness from. The other whom I love and serve.
And indeed, the most important other is God.
Without a vital and flourishing and dynamic relationship with God transforming and restoring us as individuals and in communities, our ability to relate to the other in any human context is limited to our own weak power.
And so spirituality requires community through which we can become what God intended and happens in a thriving relationship with God and with others manifesting itself in good character and good deeds.
Does this should too religious? Does it sound too nebulous?
Lord have mercy!
Sports: Gutty Little Bruins Beat Tennessee Again!
Last year was a tough year for UCLA football fans. But the highlight was the upset win over Tennessee in the Rose Bowl.
Well, this year, the Gutty Little Bruins went to Tennessee and pulled off the upset again, 19-15!
Streeter at the LA Times put it this way:
Blood streamed in a river from Kevin Prince's mouth -- the painful aftermath of a shot to the jaw he'll remember the rest of his life, a shot that may help propel UCLA through this still-young season and possibly many more to come.
......
The game could have turned here, could have been lost. What a painful sting that would have been. But from that heap, a place he'd been much of this warm Southern Saturday, up popped Prince, giving his team belief. He was hunched over in pain. His mouth was open wide and full of red. But he never looked afraid or tentative. He looked like the winner he was about to be.
UCLA learned much in this game. It now knows, for certain, that its defense can apply the brakes, which is what happened during a goal-line stand late in what became a 19-15 win. And it now unquestionably also knows that at quarterback, the most important player on the field because the ball is in his hands so often, UCLA is manned by a kid who has something special burning inside.
"Guts," said teammate Terrence Austin in the locker room when the game was done.
"Heart," said another teammate, Rahim Moore.
"Composure," added offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who compared his 19-year-old pupil to one he coached at Brigham Young many years back: Ty Detmer. "Kevin discovered he can control a game today. Stats don't mean everything and this game was proof. It wasn't always pretty, but he showed through his body language he will to do what it takes."
UPDATE: Prince will be out 3-4 weeks with a fractured jaw. 8-(
Well, this year, the Gutty Little Bruins went to Tennessee and pulled off the upset again, 19-15!
Streeter at the LA Times put it this way:
Blood streamed in a river from Kevin Prince's mouth -- the painful aftermath of a shot to the jaw he'll remember the rest of his life, a shot that may help propel UCLA through this still-young season and possibly many more to come.
......
The game could have turned here, could have been lost. What a painful sting that would have been. But from that heap, a place he'd been much of this warm Southern Saturday, up popped Prince, giving his team belief. He was hunched over in pain. His mouth was open wide and full of red. But he never looked afraid or tentative. He looked like the winner he was about to be.
UCLA learned much in this game. It now knows, for certain, that its defense can apply the brakes, which is what happened during a goal-line stand late in what became a 19-15 win. And it now unquestionably also knows that at quarterback, the most important player on the field because the ball is in his hands so often, UCLA is manned by a kid who has something special burning inside.
"Guts," said teammate Terrence Austin in the locker room when the game was done.
"Heart," said another teammate, Rahim Moore.
"Composure," added offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who compared his 19-year-old pupil to one he coached at Brigham Young many years back: Ty Detmer. "Kevin discovered he can control a game today. Stats don't mean everything and this game was proof. It wasn't always pretty, but he showed through his body language he will to do what it takes."
UPDATE: Prince will be out 3-4 weeks with a fractured jaw. 8-(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)