Avery's first shining moment...

Avery had her first acting job this weekend in our church's Christmas Cantata. She played baby Jesus and had a stellar performance. I made a short video of some of the highlights. She had two scenes, and those are our friends David and Kim as Joseph and Mary.



I loved the cantata, the theme of the service was "still He came." One song in particular mentioned over and over sentences that ended with that statement of "still He came." Every year I get more and more moved by the same truths I have heard since I was a kid. Having a child this year brings home to me a Father's love for His child, and how great God's sacrifice was.

Jesus as the climax of history...

The more I walk through Scripture the more I see that Jesus is the center of everything that ever happened. I made this video several years ago, and we use it each year during our Christmas services. It is pretty basic, my video editing skills were even worse than they are now, but I never cease to be so moved by the message. I love the song, off of Andrew Peterson's Christmas Album which goes with the video - Deliver Us (Derek Webb is actually the one singing it).

Part of what makes Christmas so great is not just the supernatural aspects of it, but the humanity of a people long desperate for a Savior to come, long desperate for hope. Hope you like this :).

Christmas Recommendations...

I've gotten to the point now where the best part of Christmas to me has very little to do with presents. I love getting to enjoy time with family, having time off with that same family, and doing the Christmas-y things that sort of warm the spirit. I love being involved with our church's candlelight service, and taking hope out of Christmas songs of a Savior sent to save all who would come to Him.

With that, I wanted to mention a few things that are essential to our Christmas, that I highly recommend.

Music:

Andrew Peterson: Behold the Lamb of God

This is the greatest Christmas CD I have ever heard. I cannot describe to you enough how much I love this CD. Every single note is a beautiful part of a whole musical masterpiece. By and large Andrew writes some of the most beautiful lyrics, and adapted Scripture to paint the story of Christmas. The CD is diverse, but largely acoustic including vocals from folks like Jill Phillips and Derek Webb, and instrumentation from guitars and piano to accordions and hammered dulcimers. Laura and I go to see the Behold the Lamb tour as well each year, and it is our favorite concert of the year (and we've been to see U2).


Sarah McLachlan - Wintersong

Now I am not a huge Sarah McLachlan fan, I only have one other CD of her. Laura and I love this album though. It is the perfect snowy day album. It is soft, smooth, and there is something warm about the album that we just love. She sings some less popular Christmas songs, and adapts others and adds her own take on them. We love this album though.





Christmas Movies:



Christmas Carol (1951)

There are so many versions of Dicken's story, and in my opinion this is by far the best one. Laura and I watch this each year, in its original black and white, and LOVE it. It is as if Dicken's story is being done as it was actually intended to be done. There are elements of the story that are not mentioned in other versions, and overwhelmingly it is so believably a 19th century story. If you love the Dicken's classic, you have to see this version.




The Stingiest Man in Town

This is also a great version of A Christmas Carol, and it is my favorite Christmas cartoon. Rankin Bass produced this one, just like so many other Christmas cartoons and claymations, and Walter Matheau is the voice for Scrooge. This cartoon is a remnant of a time when it was appropriate to talk about the meaning of Christmas. I'm 28, and I still can't have Christmas without watching it.

New Avery and Family Stuff...

It has been a while since we put stuff up. Sorry, but I am finally getting a chance to throw stuff up here.

Here is Avery in her boppy chair. She doesn't like it very much usually, but we caught her at a sort of calm time in it.



Laura and I at our Church's Trunk and Treat. That is my car turned into an X-wing from Star Wars, Laura did a killer job making her Princess Leia costume, and I tried to make a Jedi costume from whatever I could find in the baptistry.

Avery looking thoughtful...










This was taken during the "fun" part of Avery's bath. This is during the first 4 minutes, before the
water gets cold and it becomes miserable bath time.






This is kind of blurry, but still fun. Avery in her carseat on the way to Greensboro.




Also a video that I hope you like of Avery in a good mood :).

Avery Lorien

We were so excited this week to welcome into our lives our first daughter Avery Lorien Goodman. Laura did really great; she waited 3 hours for our doctor to finish delivering a woman's 3rd child (thankfully she was in no pain, and that probably allowed Avery to keep moving down and made for less pushing time). Laura actually pushed for about an hour, and then little Avery came out at 7 lbs, 2 oz, and 20 inches long.

Laura loved the name Avery, it means wise or counselor. I have loved the name Lorien ever since reading Tolkien's stories of a beautiful place tucked away from the rest of the world, and I've always just really thought the name was beautiful. It flowed really well with Avery, so we attached that as the middle name.

Here is a video of Avery at the hospital:



And then here are some pictures of little Avery right after her delivery.

New Fun...

Hey,

If anybody would like to get a quick laugh, I made this video last week for our Youth Group. Nothing like a green screen and random web footage:

Hope you enjoy:

Laura's Belly Pics

Here are some pictures of Laura as she is in her ninth month of pregnancy. Not long now!

What craziness...

Okay, very soon I hope to be showing baby pictures and things like that. For all concerned, we are scheduled to get a picture of "pregnant Laura" next Monday, so hopefully she'll make it until then (we aren't due until the 25th). For a little while, this will be my last non baby post :).

I have been absorbed for some time in my last language for a while (Thank God!!). Biblical Greek has its quirks, but I am finding Biblical Hebrew is just as crazy.

Hebrew was originally, and still written today in Israel with no vowels. NO VOWELS! How crazy is that? Luckily for me, the Masoretes in about the 6th century wrote some vowels to help folks learn Hebrew, they are written above, underneath, or to the left of the consonants (Hebrew is read from right to left).

Once again I am humbled at the thought that God has maintained his word through means that seem so immensely complicated to me. It's rare that I look down at the Old Testament and think of it as a string of Semitic letters that originally had no vowels, and got taken through all kinds of transmission and translation before it made it to me. It would have been so easy for someone to give up at some point and not do the hard work to make Scripture accessible to people, but thankfully they didn't.

Through my own failings in language I see the dedication that it took to get God's message of love to me. In all my frustration with the tediousness of it, I hope to be happy about the fact that people came before us and did the work for us, and people today are still sifting through countless documents comparing and justifying what is there for our sake.

New Nursery...

Laura and I, along with her mom and dad, have been working on our nursery. We wanted to share some pictures...





First: New paint color. Some fancy kind of green :)





Second: Laura's mom taking part in the project...








Here is a picture of the crib, all done up in Laura fashion.








The all important gliding rocker.











The gliding rocker with the changing table.









Laura's window treatment.












One last shot of everything...

More thoughts on the Shack...

I think from what I have seen the overwhelming praise for the book has been the author's ability to write on dealing with hurt. I was pretty captivated for the first few chapters of the book when the story of his daughter is taking place. I've read an interview transcript from him, and Young has been through some unbelievable pain.

I could honestly say that I didn't have a problem with about 80% of the book. I wouldn't label myself with some sort of conservative label that would say that I would be out to get anyone with new ideas, or something like that. I actually read the book expecting to really be taught some great stuff, I hadn't heard anything bad about it from anyone, only praise.

I had problems with several things. I don't necessarily think that the author is trying to be deceptive, but at the very least I think that his portrait of God falls terribly short of what the Bible points to. To name a few:

1. The conversations that Mack has with Papa, specifically the headphone conversation in the kitchen over "West Coast Juice" scream the idea that God is somehow pleased in the overall efforts and emotions of people despite anything else. I can't find support for that. Everything that I see in the nature of God in the Bible is a complete opposite screaming of "the only thing I care about, and the only chance you have is to know me." I never see God delighting in the wrongdoings of people saying "they're just letting off some steam, and with good reason too."

2. Young espouses theology, even though he might not claim to do so, and much of it is wrong. His modalist portrait of all three persons of the Trinity having scars from the crucifixion is not Biblical. Yes, the mystery of the Trinity is not something that is easily explainable, but the Bible along with any creed of the church you want to look at shows clearly that while being one substance, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not one person.

During a conversation with "Jesus" Mack is told by Jesus a series of things that reaches towards his humanity, and Young doesn't portray an emptying of glory and divine nature only, but "Jesus" talks about himself as only being used of the Father and having no power of his own. I don't think that is consistent with the Bible either. If Jesus was fully God and fully man, if a woman who grabs his cloak leaves him saying "I felt power go out of me", if he forgives sins face to face without any sort of asking permission of the Father, but by his own authority, how can he only be a human vessel?

During one of Mack's conversations with Papa, on page 120, Papa says "I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment...it's not my purpose to punish it, it's my joy to cure it." That is complete heresy, there's no excuse for that. It's not mistakable for something else, but that statement is so dangerous and anti-Scriptural it's not even funny. No doubt sin has consequences which are punishing, but you can not read anything in the Bible, anything, and support that, and to teach that sort of statement is to cheapen the gospel.

3. I can't help but see Young's portrait of God as well as just overwhelmingly demeaning, even though I know it is in an attempt to help his readers to understand the compassion of God and the personality of God. There are certain segments of the book that I think Young comes close to presenting a good picture, but he tries so hard to make God into what he thinks he must be like, that he leaves the true God somewhere far back on the road. We live in a culture that constantly tries to help people know God more simply, or create a sense of "Wow, I never thought that about God before!", that we don't try to be consistent with what the Scripture teaches, because it is far more rewarding to have people say nice things about us. We try not to, but Bruce Almighty shapes what we think about God, the Sistine Chapel shapes what we think about God, our Sunday School felt boards, shape what we think about God. I'm convinced anew after reading this book that we can't keep trying to draw God out based on what our own understanding of what he must be like because of our own experiences and thoughts on ethics, morality, and spirituality. I'm reminded of the Israelites at the foot of the mountain begging Aaron to create an image of gold for them because worshiping an invisible God wasn't working for them anymore.

This book is far too problematic for me to support, and I have to say that I think it is dangerous.

I've read Pilgrim's Progress several times. Eugene Peterson is crazy and I hope desperately mistaken to say that this book is the Pilgrim's Progress of our generation. If that is true, we are in trouble. Virtually everything in Pilgrim's Progress points me to an understanding of what Scripture teaches, not the author's own experience. Those two works are not even in the same universe with each other, and neither are Bunyan and Young.

Book Review

The Shack: William Young

It's been so long since I got to read a book that didn't just involve Seminary reading (Greek, Church History, Text Criticism). I was really excited to get to read a book that was fiction again. The book that seemed to be all the buzz was this one, William Young's The Shack.

After reading it, I could see why so many of my friends liked it. This book is an outside the box sort of approach at God, reminded me of a C.S. Lewis type attempt in The Space Trilogy. Overall, I think we all love books that make us think things like "Wow, I never really looked at it that way before." Young is a great storyteller, the book was really captivating in a lot of places.

Overall though, I am going to have to give a thumbs down to this book, I just wanted to give you some reasons personally. If you are interested in hearing a better perspective on the book enter "Al Mohler shack" in a google search engine, and listen to the MP3 of him talking about it. He's Southern Seminary President and probably the leading intellectual evangelical in the USA in my opinion. Here are my thoughts though:

1. Young seems to bring in the Trinity in a way that he thinks will be the most different to popular thinking. No doubt God is not white, No doubt God is not man in the same way that I am, no doubt when we see God someday we will find that he is different than we thought. Having said that though, we have so much given in the Bible about the nature of God, and what I see Young doing doesn't just miss the mark of what any preconception I would have is, he also misses any mark that I see Scripture setting for the nature of God. This is the same kind of "Bruce Almighty" kind of mindset that "the true nature of God must be something that makes for snappy quotes, and new ways of thinking contrary to any previous ways of thought or precedent."

2. Another part that I don't really like so far is just this continued sort of knock on anything that anyone would have ever done to try to know God more as having been completely futile, and they should have just done some trivial thing instead. I'm really frustrated at the scene of "God" dancing to the beat of funk music, not because God is dancing, or because the music is funk music, but because the message underlying that whole conversation is something like "why did you ever try to listen to music or do anything that seemed to focus or honor me? If only you would have opened yourself up to the realm of everything, and see the good in everything the way that I do no matter what kind of things people are saying, you would know who I am more fully than you do now." What the Bible seems to say to me is that God wants people to know him desperately. He rejoices in nothing else. He never seems to take joy in "the heart and emotion of people" in a way that makes that less crucial or important. I don't even know specifically if Young was trying to say that he would, but I could easily see how someone reading this could take that message away. I just don't like that anytime Mack (main character) talks about things he was taught or learned, it ALWAYS ends up being something not just wrong, but somehow for the sake of plot is completely contradictory to what the true nature of God must be.

3. Eugene Peterson said something like "this book has the capability to do for this generation what Pilgrim's Progress did for Bunyan's generation." This book, I think, is not even in the same universe as Pilgrim's Progress. I honestly have no idea why Peterson would say that. The stories are not similar, and even the allegorical style is not similar, so this book is definitely not a modern Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison because he would not attend or support the Anglican church because of it's heresy. He had the freedom to go anytime that he wanted, if he would only support the Anglican church, and he stayed in prison for years because he felt truth was that important. Pilgrim's Progress deals with the nature of man, sin, trials, Bible teaching, and amazing allegory. It never seeks to take away the glory and majesty of God to sell more books, or sound smart. Personally, I think that if the Shack is our generation's Pilgrim's Progress than we have no chance at true spiritual survival and integrity.

If anybody has thoughts, I would love to hear them. There is good in that book as well, I am not saying that all of it is wrong. But I have to say that taken as a whole, The Shack has some really dangerous views of God, and I have to say that I can't approve of it.

As Christians, we have to get out of this view of things that says "if it promotes diversity and new understanding then there is no way that it can't be true." Please can we have diversity, new understanding, and integrity at the same time...

Resources:

Mark Driscoll on The Shack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK65Jfny70Y

The truth is a river...

One of my favorite song lyrics is from the Caedmon's Call song "Beautiful Mystery" which states:

The truth is a river
where the strong can swim down deep
and the weak and the broken
can walk across so easily...

It never fails that the truth of the gospel is something that goes to the core of all of us, whether we grew up in Sunday Schools, VBS's, and Christian homes, or whether we saw yesterday for the first time who Jesus was and tasted what grace he offered.

This last Sunday, the Youth of our church were able to perform a skit that I have absolutely loved since the first time that I saw it. It's making the rounds on YouTube and GodTube, and if you want to see the real skit just go to God Tube and put in "Lifehouse everything" in the search engine.

Here is the version we were able to do at our church. This took place in our church's fellowship hall. We have 2 services in the morning, and about 130 people saw this skit in our contemporary service. Sorry it's so dark, we're still trying to improve the lighting in that room :).

www.firstbaptistwelcome.org/Everythingskit.mpg


We were especially excited to get to do this on the heels of a big festival type event at our church for our community, and we did the best we could to try to give the gospel, without other stuff, to the people there that morning. Some of whom had never, or hadn't in a long time, darkened the doors of a church. God continues to convict me about all the stuff I need big time help with, and also encourage me with the truth that he molds me and makes me, it's not up to me.

This week...

Big Updates and News in our lives this week that we are excited about:

1. Laura had her second ultrasound this morning (they gave us one before by mistake, so this was the real one) and everything looks good according to them. We are excited and thankful! Our baby is up to a whopping 1/2 a pound, but she still is without a name. We have narrowed it down to a workable list, that still is perhaps not complete. In no particular order:

1. Lorien - My favorite. Lord of the Rings name from Lothlorien, one of the places that was really beautiful in the books. This is a tough sell to Laura since it is a Lord of the Rings name, but I think it's really pretty and not too strange. Thorin or Feanor would be a tough sell :).
2. Dora - From "Doron" which is Greek for gift. We both love this name, but that stinking explorer sort of is putting a negative light on things. We don't want our daughter being called "Dora the Explorer" her whole life. Haven't ruled it out yet though.
3. Olivia - One of Laura's favorites. There is another girl in our church with that name already, but it is a family name from deep back on my mother's side. I don't know, not real likely though probably.
4. Abigail - In consideration but not a front runner.
5. Rebecca - always loved this name. Never had anyone that sort of came to mind with it for a long time, but it has been less appealing in recent years. Probably won't happen.

Who knows how many more we will come up with though.

2. NFL Draft this weekend. I am so excited. Finally I won't be at Merlefest during it. Why do they have to schedule two such great things at the same time? Friends coming over. Lots of drama in the mix for the Draft itself. Should be very exciting.




3. American Idol Rant - I still lose respect each time I mention this I know. Thoughts on this week - this really shows that this competition is about winning votes not singing great. The next two to go should be Brooke and Jason Castro. How do you forget the words and sing horrible songs and stay on the show. As if you cared, my list of how I think it should finish:

1. David Cook or Syesha Mercado
2. David Archuleta
3. Brooke White
4. Jason Castro

American Idol...Can't Help Myself

Alright, I'm about to lose all dignity if I ever had any, but I am actually going to post about American Idol. I have been inspired by Amanda's previous posts, and I feel the need to let my voice be heard...

Thoughts on April 15's Show:

I must begin by saying I completely disagree with the judges after last night. I don't understand the logic that "since you are a girl, you will be compared to Mariah Carey, and if you are a guy you can sound like crap and it's okay, even breathtaking."

A run down of each contestants performance:


David Archuleta - began the night with black leather pants singing a Mariah song that I have forgotten the title to. My impression: horrible rendition. Boring, pitchy (yea dawg). I brace myself for the poor kid to get put down mercilessly, and they tell him it was a great performance. What? Once again I brace myself, it's gonna be a weird night.






Carly Smithson - Sang "Can't Live" and did a decent job. I liked her rendition, thought it was very good, but not incredible. She definitely outdid David A. though, so I thought "Man, they are really going to compliment her." Nope, so begins the logic mentioned above. If you are a girl and sing good it doesn't matter, because it is Mariah night, so too bad you weren't born a guy, or you could sing terrible and everyone would think it was great.




Syesha Mercado - seems to be the one that the judges just can't quite appreciate. She sang "Vanishing" and it was AMAZING (best performance of the year in my opinion). Week after week Syesha seems to blow the rest of the competition out of the water, and just can't seem to get credit for it. I was floored at how good her performance was last night. She is the most talented person left in my opinion. Once again, stupid comparison logic (the closer you are to being as good as Mariah, the worse it is).



Brooke White - Sang "Hero", played the piano "shoes off" as usual. I liked Brooke's "singer/songwriter" (as Randy puts it) renditions in the beginning. Somewhere around the "Here Comes The Sun" times Brooke lost my support. I also don't understand why she feels like the judge evaluation time is conversation time that somehow includes her. She did an okay job with the song, but Simon was right on this one - she doesn't really have a big voice, so this night was tough for her.




Kristy Lee Cook - Every week I wonder why she is still here. Her main criticism is that she is forgettable. Week after week she has expected to go home and continues to stay here. I was starting to compare her to the red-haired Sinatra guy in Season 3 who kept expecting to leave but somehow stayed. There has not been a single week that I thought she deserved to stay, until this one. Laura's belief is that somehow the teenage guys of America are keeping her on board for her looks :). Last night, she had what I thought was the second best performance of the night. Big voice, wonderful rendition...she should stay this week. Once again though, the logic mentioned above was given to her. Unfair this week.

David Cook - Okay, I've been a fan of this guy. Thought he has had some great weeks. I am starting to get weary though of the "special David versions" of certain songs. Some of them were good, mostly the ones he used from other people. Last night, his version of "Always Be My Baby" seemed to me to be the worst performance of the year so far. It was laughable, except for the cool scream note in the middle. Parallel Universe Logic applies though, Randy says it is the best of the season, and the judges seemed to act like it was great. I honestly don't understand. I think David is very talented, but that was the worst performance in terms of how it sounded and was arranged I have seen all year.

Jason Castro - If it wasn't for David C., this would be the worst performance I have seen all year. He managed to borrow the Ukelali (no idea how to spell it) sound last week for Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but this week it was a disaster. Terrible in terms of compared to the other competition. Once again, rave reviews from the judges except from Randy, who must have woken from his coma just before the song. Unfortunately, Paula was still in her 24/7 coma, and whatever they slipped in Simon's coke before the show was still working. Simon signs off with "the guys won the night."

I can't believe I gave an American Idol blog post. Luckily my friends don't think very much of me. Hope you enjoyed, feel free to bash or support my opinions...

On the Clock...

I realize most people don't care about this, but I wanted to add in a quick note about my building excitement for the NFL Draft in a couple of weeks. The Jets have a high pick because (uh-hum) they stunk last year. Draft day is always fun for a Jets Fan, here are some of the GREAT picks they have made in previous years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZxNeFLuY98

It's a Girl!

O Lord, you have searched me and known me
You know when I sit and when I rise up
You understand my thought from afar
You scrutinize my path and my lying down
You are intimately acquainted with all my ways
Even before there is a word is on my tongue
Behold, O Lord, You know it all
You have enclosed me behind and before
And laid Your hand upon me
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me
It is too high, I cannot attain it

Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea
Even there your hand will lead me
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
and the light around me will be night'
Even the darkness is not dark to You
and the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You

For you formed my inmost parts;
You wove me together in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully
and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works
and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you
When I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
and in Your book were all written
the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

Psalm 139:1-16

Trip to Florida

We got a chance to go to Florida for a week because of a Timeshare offer (go down, listen to the presentation, and when they realize you don't have money they let you leave, but they pay for almost everything).

It was a lot of fun, we know we are going to be out of the realm for vacations for a while, so it was great to get to enjoy some time together in tourist land. We took a cruise on a pitiful little ship for 2 days but we did get to hang out in the Bahamas which was great for a day.

We also got to go to Disney, and there are pictures obviously from there as well.