richard's notions.

As mentioned, the Stewart's came down on Saturday. We had a nice time. Kate is, of course, a cutie. It is amazing how agile a baby's forhead can be. They have a whole Linus thing going on. I loved all Kate's little faces.

As mentioned at This Classical Life, we played a game of Hoopla. We won with like four minutes to spare. Looking back, I think we were too lenient with starting the time. Oh well... next time.

Mike, who I met for the first time, reminded me of someone. I couldn't think who, but Megan knew because he reminded her of him also... our friend Brian Martin, who is currently a student at covenant seminary. Mike had some discussions with Kate, and I feel privleged to have been ringside. I also learned that Kate already knows three catechism questions... and in Latin! She's one smart baby, I tell ya.

I was, and am, thankful that they put aside a day to come down and spend some time with us. It's great to meet likeminded friends, and spend time with them, particularly time around the table, eating and talking.

...I just should have picked Mike's brain more about how to go about teaching the girls Latin.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:41.

The other day I discovered that one of the girls (I think Ashley) had taken out our A Bug's Life DVD and played with it in such a way that it is all scratched up now. You can watch about two thirds of the movie, and then it is one, distorted, pixelated image.

I am crushed.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:40.

Todd Davis delivers some sound words in response to RC Sproul Jr's, and other's, criticism of those that accept Roman Catholic baptism as valid Christian baptism.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:46.

Tomorrow I get to meet Kate!

posted by Richard Okimoto at 13:09.

One good thing about the stupid navbar is that the blogger link is at the top of the page, so I don't have to scroll down to click it (or type blogger.com in the address bar).


Boy, I am such a lazy man.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 13:07.

If you were a pastor (or if you are one), and there was a local 'association' of ministers that got together once a month to primarily build relationships with one another, and this group officially accepted women pastors, would you take part in the group?

posted by Richard Okimoto at 11:21.

So there's this guy. A Christian guy. And he says that he and his wife and have decided that they don't want to have any children. So someone asks him why they made the decision, and what criteria they used to determine that not having children was a good thing to do. He answered, "I don’t think that we thought about it in terms as whether it was good or not but rather whether it was something we wanted to do or not."

How typical is that? How sad is it? How condemning is it? We actually have come to the point where Christians don't care about the consequences of their actions. They We don't care about the reasons behind their our actions. They We don't care about "Why".

All that matters is "What I want".

posted by Richard Okimoto at 07:46.

I am searching for a good logic textbook. Something that is good for beginners, but isn't just a throwaway. And some thing that is distinctively christian would be a very big added bonus.

Do you know of such a book?

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:20.

update: I just had to include this, from Valerie:

How did your kid get to be such a pope?
Excomm'ing ev'ry Internet dope?
Sitting with an imperious air
In a great big blue easy chair?

You must be a Trentish Lot.

Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-da
Turn back from Rome and flee very far!
You will live in happiness too,
Like the Oompa Loompa doom-pa-dee-do.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 11:49.

A cleric's collar is one thing. But what is up with the pink shirt?!

I don't think I'll ever find that acceptable.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:52.

According to some people, I have children named Heidelberg and Dordt.

The nerve...



posted by Richard Okimoto at 22:38.

In his recent article Playing with Knives: God the Dangerous, Doug Jones writes,

...almost always, we see Abraham portrayed in the sacrifice episode as distraught, grief-stricken, and faithless. One commentator says that this was a "heart-rending trial" and another says that "the words `take now thy son, thy only son Isaac' gripped Abraham's heart." Another says that "Abraham anguished" over the loss of his son. I once watched an actor portray an account of Abraham in which the actor wept and wept over the command to kill his son.

and a little bit later

But the text doesn't give any of these responses. Why do we accept them? We are little unitarian Jobs. Abraham was truly tested; the text says that. But we have no hint of anguish or weeping. Why couldn't Abraham's faith be pictured as victorious and bold? He might have gone whistling up the mountain without a hint of anguish, because He knew the character of God. The character of God overflows any void.

And in response to these quotes, and some of my own ramblings, my friend Andrew Peterson said, in part,

I can hardly imagine anything more victorious and bold than Abraham taking those heavy steps up the mountain with his son's hand in his own, knowing what he was about to do.

And I say, "Amen to that".

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:07.

new credenda is up.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 11:18.

So... any guesses on the actual birthday?

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:25.

Some time back, the walls in the classrooms on my floor were painted. That means that everything mounted on the walls had to come down, and relevant to this little story is a stuffed hawk. It is positioned to be swooping down and in the process of catching a small mammal in its talons. For the past several months it has been sitting on the top of a shelf collecting dust. Yesterday, I finally remembered to put a workorder in for someone to remount it to the wall. And when the guy arrived today to do so, he asked about a fox display. Somewhere along the way 'hawk' changed to 'fox'. Real-life telephone game.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 12:02.

I saw a guy that looked just like this waking around campus yesterday. 

posted by Richard Okimoto at 11:56.

"God’s law makes sense; God’s law is good for us; God’s law is honey on the tongue. However, before we are able to taste the delights of that honey, the grace of God in Christ must be bestowed upon us."

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:42.

A woman's tummy is a wild thing the last few weeks of a pregnancy. Just wild.

Last night, as we got into bed, Megan said "Look." I looked at her tum, and it was literally pointy. One spot was sticking out far beyond everything else. Her belly sloped down from there. I felt it, and it was hard. And it stayed that way for a long while. Little Fiona must've been stretching her legs or something... we joked that she was trying to push her way out... too cramped.

Other times, when we're belly-watching, we'll see huge undulations go across her stomach. Like a waterbed or something... only hard.

I can only imagine what it feels like to Megan.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:14.

Hey, my bloggerversary came and went without acknowledgement. What a shame.

As of the 14th of this month, I have been blogging for four years. Um.


Yippee.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:00.

New St. Anne's Pub Available!

Roamin' Catholics

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:52.

An excerpt of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, from jkrowling.com:

He looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:15.

A lot of the time, when I'm debating the Federal Vision issues, labels like Wilsonite, Shepherdite, or whatever are tossed out. And I find it terribly annoying and uncharitable. It does nothing to help the discussion when such terms are used, particularly when they are obviously used in a pejorative manner.

But I'm even more bothered when "my side" starts doing the same thing.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:14.

Yesterday morning, when I awoke, I was SOO tired. I just couldn't believe it. Ashley was crying, so I went and picked her up and brought her back to our bed. I have a nice little program when she's fussy in the morning. I go get her out of her crib, so her crying doesn't wake Geneva (who shares the room). I plop Ashley down in our bed, she cuddles up to Megan, and then I go get ready for work. When I return 15 or 20 minutes later, Ashley is sound asleep, and I can safely extract her from our bed, and reinsert her into her own.

But yesterday was different. After I put her in our bed I just couldn't get moving. Ashley, though, did her part just fine. I sat on the bed for several minutes, trying to shake it off and start my day. But I could barely hold my eyes open. I wondered to myself, "Man, why I am I so tired?". Then, it all came together when I glanced at the clock. It was one o'clock in the morning. "Oooh" I thought. "That's nice".

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:08.

In his chapter in When Shall These Things Be?, Keith Mathison writes,

In order to understand the eschatological time texts of the New Testament, it is important to understand their biblical context. We cannot simply remove a few isolated verses from their broader biblical context, interpret them apart from that context, and then use them as a hermeneutical grid through wich we force the remainder of Scripture. The eschatological time texts of the New Testament do not exist in a vacuum. We must examine these texts within the broader eschatological framework of the New Testament.

When I read that, I was struck at how applicable the principle is to the current 'Auburn Avenue Controversy'.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:24.

Doug Phillips says on his blog,

Speaking of confused logic, have you noticed that the Christians who squawk and protest most loudly that they have discovered an "enlightened spirit of catholicity" that corrects the "excesses" of that great cloud of Reformation witnesses (including the hard talking, sound thinking Separatists, Puritans, Pilgrims, etc., who helped to found America) have anything but a spirit of catholicity when it comes to talking about their Reformed and credo-Baptist brethren. For many of these dear confused brothers "Baptist" and "Anabaptist" are synonymns, and both terms are the equivilent of a Christian swear word.

But, really, does he get it? This is probably the most common problem for the 'reformed catholic' guys. Because they emphasize christian catholicity and unity, it is assumed that they think everything is peachy keen. Because Baptists are members of Christs one, holy, catholic, apostolic body, it is assumed that nothing can be said about their errors. But that (obviously) is not the case. Baptists are our brothers. But they also are in error. Serious error, if you ask me. And those errors are pointed out and argued against. And that does nothing to diminish the primary goal of recognizing the catholic church as the catholic church.

It's disheartening when these men that are leaders just don't get it.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:06.

I was mowing the lawn today, and I saw my neighbor (who goes to Providence) was having some friends (who also go to Providence) over. We made eye contact, and waved. Then I went back to my grass cutting. Shortly, I see them strolling towards me, and my neighbor, Lance, holds out his hand. And in his hand is a cold one.

I couldn't pay to have better neighbors.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 21:44.

I'm going to buy some whiskey this evening. Any suggestions?

I need them in an hour.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:03.

Price Gouging Saves Lives

via Mike

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:01.

From: Blogger Support <==>
Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 16:50
To: Richard Okimoto (51056, ) <==>
Subject: navbar


Hi there,

Thanks for writing in about our brand-new navbar feature. We're pretty
excited to have successfully upgraded everyone to ad-free hosting while
simultaneously adding useful new features such as search, BlogThis!, and
NextBlog but we're always looking for more ways to improve our service and
keep our users happy.

You can turn the Navbar on or off (as well as alter the color) at your
leisure if you use Blogger's FTP option together with your own hosting
provider. Users of Blogger's free hosting service do not have the option
of turning the navbar off but they may change the color any time. This
option is located in the "Template" section of your Blogger account.

Thanks for using Blogger!

Sincerely,
Blogger Support


Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: "Richard Okimoto (51056, )" <==>
Subject: navbar
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 11:13:14 -0700 (PDT)

I hate the navbar.


posted by Richard Okimoto at 18:30.

what is up with that stupid blogger thing across the top of the page? It's almost enough to make me dump blogspot...

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:08.

...everybody thinks that the government is a giant milch cow with 250 million teats.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:33.

In ligther news, I got an email from Kristen, and we're going to work something out to have a visit. Fun!

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:57.

My dad came in for the weekend. He lives in Arizona, but goes to Washinton, D.C. for business often. Every few months he'll come in early or leave late, so he can spend the weekend with us.

We had an okay time. Saturday was a very rainy day, so we didn't go out as we had planned. But he got to play with his granddaughters, which is always nice. Our conversation is always pretty superficial. We think in very, very different ways, so it's difficult to have any real, edifying conversations. And when I say different ways, I don't mean he's a baptist (actually, he goes to a methodist church) and I'm Reformed. I mean, I value what the Bible says and he doesn't.

He saw The Real Lincoln sitting on my shelf. He asked if it was a Southern book, and I said it was. I described it as "documenting all the ways Lincoln broke the law and disregarded the Constitution". He said "Every president does that". I answered, "But not every president is lauded as the greatest president in the history of our nation for it, though". He started, "Well, guess what?" but that was the end of it. He didn't tell me what. I think he was going to say something along the lines of "sometimes that is what is necessary", but instead it was just silence. I'm glad. I didn't want to argue with him about it.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to honor my dad as God commands me. He certainly knows many things that I don't know, and I ask him for advice about various situations I find myself in. But, I always have to second guess what he tells me, because I have to reevaluate it in light of God's word. I wish I could have more confidence in my father.

Some of our friends here in Lynchburg have wonderful, model families. Three generations gather together for celebrations and feasts. I'm jealous of that. I wish my family or Megan's was like that. But they aren't. When our visits with either are more than two days, I about explode. But those families... our friends that have what we want... They truly are models.

I hope for the day when my grandchildren (or great grandchildren!) gather around our table to celebrate all that God has done for us.

All the Way Home
by Andrew Peterson

Daniel hollered goodbye to the old river barge
With a dream in his head and a bride in his arms
Everyone said, "You're crazy"
But everyone longed to go

So from Memphis to Lakeport my grandfather came
Six girls and a boy grew up in that Florida rain
They were carried along like leaves on a river of faith.
They'd float

All the way home
They followed the tracks that the saints have trod
By the grace of God
They walked in the rain of His mercy
Let it soak them down to the bone
And they splashed in its puddles
And danced in its streams as they'd go
And, oh, they walked in the rain of his mercy
All the way home

I have slept in the house where my mother was born
And I've seen the sun set on the lake that gave birth to those storms
Well, they may not have walked on water
But I know that their house stood firm.

All the way home
They followed the tracks that the saints have trod
By the grace of God
They walked in the rain of His mercy
Let it soak them down to the bone
And they splashed in its puddles
And danced in its streams as they'd go
And, oh, they walked in the rain of His mercy

When they sat in their home
When they walked along the road
When they slept and when they rose
The words of the Lord were impressed on their minds
And after all this time
I'm carried along like a leaf on a river of faith
And I'll float

All the way home
Yes, I'll followed the tracks that the saints have trod
By the grace of God
I'll walk in the rain of His mercy
Let it soak me down to the bone
And splash in its puddles
And danc in its streams as I go
And, Lord, I'll walk in the rain of Your mercy
All the way home.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:56.

When are the rest of these lectures by NT Wright going to be up?

posted by Richard Okimoto at 13:09.

I stayed home from work today, just for fun. And I went out back, looking for worms to feed to the little snake. I lifted a log, and what do I find? Another one! This one a little bigger, but still not adult. I picked him up, and he doodied all over me. I cleaned up a bit, and then let the girls hold him before letting him go. Then we let the other guy go, too. Now they had better protect the house from evil varmits.

I took some real photographs of the snakes and the girls with the snakes. The digital camera is just too cheap to get a good shot. Here's an attempt from last night.. it's the only one that was even a little bit in focus:



posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:56.

We got the latest Credenda in the mail yesterday. The cover is pretty gross.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:39.

And I got poison ivy all over my left arm.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:39.

I've decided now that I was wrong about the snake. I now believe it is a Northern Brownsnake (Storeria dekayi dekayi). Whatever it is, I have determined that it is not poisonous. But the nature of the snake fits well with the description of the brownsnake. He is always hiding out, never wanting to be bothered. But when I do bother him, he has never shown any signs of agression, never once lunged to bite.

Also, most of the brownsnake's activity is at night, and I noticed today that an earthworm is missing. Of course, it could have just shriveled up and disappeared into the substrate. It was a small earthworm. Actually... it was a redworm, but whatever.

Today I'll bring him back home and let Geneva hold him. Maybe I'll take some pictures of that event. And maybe one day Derek get some courage and hold the little fella.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 10:03.

The New Saint Andrews Bookstore has some good prices on their limited selection of books. For example, James Jordan's Creation in Six Days is just $7.25.

I was going to compare that to amazon's price, but I'll be darned, amazon.com is down.

Anyhow, Jordan's book is $15 at Canon.


Oh, and if you look at the apparel section, you'll see one Mr. Riley Latham, the son of Wayne Latham, an elder at Providence.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:26.

Some more movies I want to rent, when they come out:

The Village
Napoleon Dynamite
The Bourne Supremacy

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:14.

A piece of Ashley's artwork. 

posted by Richard Okimoto at 12:23.

Just yesterday I deleted a ton of old images from my server space, and today I discover hello (via Steve), which offers free image hosting for blogspot users.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 12:16.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Revelation 22:13-15

posted by Richard Okimoto at 14:52.

I caught a snake Saturday, while mowing the lawn. I think it is an eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis). Probably a juvenile though... about 7 inches or so.

Anyhow.. here's a picture of the little fellow:


posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:09.

If you've seen (or just heard about) the anti-Kerry swift boat ad, this is worth looking at for balance.
FactCheck.org Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record

posted by Richard Okimoto at 22:50.

A good looking book...
Backbone of the Bible: Covenant in Contemporary Perspective
P. Andrew Sandlin, ed.



posted by Richard Okimoto at 20:53.

When we talk about receiving earthly blessings for faithful obedience to God, I think a lot of the time we have this idea that we do something good, and then, at some point after that good deed, God gives something good to us in reward. I don't have a problem with receiving blessings for faithfulness and being rewarded by God, as many, I think, would. But I do have a problem with this way of thinking about it.

Take, for example, being involved in community. Showing hospitality to your brothers and sisters. When you obey God, and invite a family to your house for dinner, you might think that God will then do something good for you at some point. But having them over for dinner is good. When we have people over, and treat them as they ought to be treated as guests in our home, then doing that is our reward.

Let's say we have some problem that is bothering us, say a financial issue. When we have people in our homes, they are our focus. We are striving to make them comfortable. We are serving them, bearing their needs and shouldering any problems they are going through. We are at their service entirely. And so, our money problem is not in our mind. It is put aside as we minister to others. If it is a minor problem, that doesn't require a lot of deliberation, perhaps this evening with friends will end it entirely. If the problem is bigger, and will affect your entire life, then you've had a break for worrying about it. In this world God has made and put us in, when we obey Him by serving others, we shouldn't expect a prize to fall out of the gumball machine at some point. That very act of hospitality and service is a blessing to us.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:30.

Quick Edit Links. Nice.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 15:36.

A bit more on CCL, and politics...

I have to say that I agree with a lot of what the guys at CCL are saying. I do agree with Sandlin when he says that if we want a godly president, "we�ll need to change the culture so a rather wide consensus supports these candidates." He says that we should be "working zealously for pervasive Christian influence in popular music, education, technology, media, movies, and elsewhere in the culture. Then one day capturing the White House will be easy." I couldn't agree more. He says that we Christians will only gain the prize of cultural reclaimation "by difficult cultural spadework � fostering godly families, building strong churches, walking the precincts for state and local politics, supporting Christian artists and other cultural fulcrums and so on." Amen, again.

And, so long as he is talking about choosing between Bush and Kerry (which the context indicates), I agree with Monte Wilson when he says "If you don�t know who to vote for at this stage of the game, you are not being discriminating: you have asparagus where everyone else has brains."

But none of this convinces me that voting Republican is the proper thing for a faithful christian to do. I'm not saying it is unfaithful for a Christian to vote republican either. To argue dogmatically one way or another on that issue, I believe, misses the entire point. The thing we Christians really need to get into our thick skulls is something that, ironically, Sandlin expresses wonderfully - that "our hope is not in politics but in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

posted by Richard Okimoto at 08:59.

What is it with the Christian Third Party boys? And make no mistake: they are boys. This is why they have never been able to make a difference in the Real Game. They kept getting their heads handed to them by the tougher and wiser Big Boys and, rather than growing up and gaining wisdom, they took their ball and started their own game�one where they can feel like Big Boys but in a smaller, less brutal game. Maybe they can get a guest appearance on the Daily Show�where they are at least good for a few laughs.

So writes Monte Wilson, Senior Fellow of Theology and Literature at the Center for Cultural Leadeship. Sure, he makes a crack about third parties not making a difference. He can call them foolish and cowardly. But what has the Republican party done? What difference have they made? Any? Stupid wisecracks can be made just as easily about the Republican party, and they would have about the same effect: nothing. The republicans will keep doing their thing, which is antithetical to Christ's thing.

I'm not taking sides in the Republican vs. Third Party debate. I really don't care who you vote for. I'm certainly not going to go around acting like God has spoken on the issue and wants you to vote for George Bush, and not for, say, Michael Peroutka. Where would one get such an idea?

Sandlin all but says God wants us to vote for Bush. He also says its too much for us to say God wants us to ordinarily refrain from using birth control. That's legalism. Right.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 13:31.

This is just some really, really funny stuff: You Have Bad Taste in Music

Some of the people being told they have bad taste in music say some naughty words, so be warned.

posted by Richard Okimoto at 09:20.