Conference Quotes

"We are living in a day when people are listening with their eyes and thinking with their feelings. We need to see through the eye…not with the eye.”

-Ravi Zacharias during a Q&A at Contending for the Truth

Friday Night Concert

Very unfortunately, I was unable to get pictures of the conference. I think the Ligonier photographers did a much better job than I ever could have done anyway, so I'm just going to point you to their site.

However, I did get a few pictures of the Friday evening concert featuring the Westminster Brass with John Catchings, cellist and Jennifer Velazquez, organist, also performing:

Relaxing at the Lexington

After a full, fun-filled day driving around Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach, we headed back into Orlando to find our downtown hotel.

I loved my room's color scheme. Light blue walls, chocolate carpet and pillows, dark wood furniture and white/natural accents.

Fluffy towels and delightful bath accessories greeted us.

Florida Snapshots

We were driving and suddenly came onto this sign. We had no idea that we had run straight into Patrick Air Force Base.

Birds on the beach...

Cocoa Beach

Ashley and I headed to Florida last week to enjoy the Ligonier National Conference in Orlando. We flew in a day early since we had to be at the conference site early Thursday, and took the opportunity of visiting Cocoa Beach, the closest and least-crowded beach we could find. It was a cloudy and windy day, so the waves were very strong and beautiful.

Jane Austen Season on British TV

My Journey Into Knitting

What I Learned From an Ancient Craft.

Where It Began
Three years ago my Mom and older sister walked into a yarn store on a whim and were shown how to knit. They purchased some needles and yarn and brought their enthusiasm home. At first, I could not see what was so special about this hobby. It seemed time-consuming and difficult. Learning how to make your yarn go “over the fence and off it leaps” even seemed childish or old-fashioned. But after seeing the delight that my mother showed as she made progress on her scarf, and the fun that she was having overall, I knew that it was time for me to pick up the sticks and learn. My first attempt at knitting, and what I thought was a scarf, turned out to be an oblong rectangle filled with holes. I have to chuckle to myself when I think about the way that I often wondered why there were, all of a sudden! so many stitches on my needles, or, a few rows farther up, why there were so few?

Stuck In A Knitting Rut
It took me awhile to branch out of knitting and purling, and the scarves that could be created so easily. I really did not think that I was capable of making anything beyond them. But I loved to knit, and the way that I felt productive sitting in front of a movie now, or finishing a gift for someone in the car, suddenly made everything feel useful. Even movies were productive if they gave me another two hours to work on a project!

Branching Out
There are only so many scarves that one can make, own, and pass on to others before they begin to be very old. It was with great trepidation that I embarked on a very ambitious project - a cap-sleeved sweater made with bulky wool yarn in the most beautiful blue and green colorway that I had ever seen, and on very big needles. It promised to be a very quick knit. With some pride I finished it and wore it - and took it off. It just didn’t work. The yarn was too bulky, and standing in front of the mirror, I noticed that I had very suddenly gained weight! It was just too big and heavy for me. The sweater still sits in my yarn bin, waiting to be ripped out and made into something new. I felt discouraged at first. All of that time and effort, only to be tossed aside. For some reason, it did not discourage me for too long, and I found myself picking out more ambitious projects to do. I still stuck to the easy knit and purl stitches that I had now mastered, but refused to go beyond. I just didn’t believe that I could knit a lace shawl, or a pair of socks (such tiny needles! And the stitches! Wouldn’t you need glasses to see them?); I felt sure that something so beautiful could only be ruined by me. After all, I’m the person who breaks things, loses things, rips things and has to clean her sunglasses that get smudged with fingerprints several times a day. Genteel certainly is not I. But last year, after months of very slow progress and a growing desire to try something new, I started on a lace sweater. Very simple, but the result was lovely. It absolutely amazed me. I bought more lace weight yarn and began a shawl. I work on it off and on, and the stitch pattern is stunning. Who would have thought that I could throw the yarn off and on the needles like that and make such a lovely pattern? Encouraged, I then tried a pair of socks at my mother’s recommendation (“If I can do it, anyone can!”). Tiny needles. Yarn that looked like a very thin, stretchy string. I thought to myself: “This will take forever for me to knit”. I was wrong. The yarn flew over the needles and before I knew it, I had mastered heel turning and toe shaping on a sock. My very own, hand-knit sock. You wouldn’t be able to buy it in a package at the store. You would never have to worry about seeing someone else in the same pair. It was uniquely mine. Now I was more than confident. How about cabling? Drafting my own pattern? Intarsia? (okay, intarsia is still a future challenge). Knitting has been addictive (“just one more row!”), fun (have you ever seen how people stare as though you’re some crazy person who has just stepped through a time-machine from the nineteenth century?) and a learning experience.

What have I learned from knitting?
After all, it is much more than sticks and string. It’s knowledge, creativity, productivity and a connection with our ancestors’ way of living. It is creating beautiful things with your hands, turning idle time into productive minutes. Here are a few things that I have learned since beginning to knit...


1. You can teach an “old dog” new tricks. We are often led to believe that education and learning end with our high school, college, or master’s degree. Not so! We have a lifetime of learning ahead, and you will always be learning something new. Sharpen your brain at all times by tackling new thought processes and ideas, and keep yourself a student for the rest of your life.

2. I really can try something new and possibly be good at it. I really never had much confidence in my ability to create things, but this is because I never tried to create something. Knitting has taught me to branch out, try it, and not be afraid of the consequences.

3. Patience. Ah, yes, I admit: I’m not a of this virtue. It eludes me at all times and I often reach for it only to get frustrated because it isn’t there in my nature. But this doesn’t mean that I can’t achieve it, and knitting has certainly helped. I cannot tell you how often I have had to rip on a project, all of those stitches so lovingly and smoothly crafted on my needles, hours and hours of work, ripped because of a mistake, and I am then soon forced into beginning again.

4. Perseverance. Last year, I ripped 1,000+ stitches on a ruffle that I was creating on a cardigan. Two times, no less. I don’t even want to think about the equation of 1,000 + 1,000. It still makes me shudder. But what a pleasure to hear compliments now when I wear that cardigan. And when people ask me where I bought it, it gives me that much more of a thrill - and almost makes those ripped stitches worth it. In any case, I feel a reward for the perseverance, though it was reluctantly and painfully learned.

5.Listening to Others. I don’t like to be told how to do something. Well, not often anyway. It is very hard for me to receive instruction, and knitting has forced me into humbling myself to learn from others. I have had to realize that I don’t know everything, and that, in all probability, the person teaching me knows how to do something better than me. I have had to sit, listen and learn, then humbly ask for more help when I don’t get it right the first time. This is so important because it made me realize that I have struggled with this nature for a long time now. When my parents have lovingly corrected me or attempted to guide me, or when a sibling has tried to help me with, say, html, I have often rebuffed their advice and knowledge. I can figure it out, I would think. Now I’m realizing that I can’t. If I can’t listen to advice, teaching, caution, etc.,. how can I then be inclined to listen to God?

So you see, knitting has been a wonderful learning experience. When I first picked up those big needles and made a slip-knot with my yarn, I never dreamed I was in for such an adventure. Crafting and experimenting, working with my hands and creating beautiful things uniquely my own, all the while discovering more about myself...

You, too, might want to give it a try and see what an incredible adventure you will have!

If You Like To Laugh At Yourself:

From Despair.com
HT: Justin Taylor

Global Warming... (?)

I am working on a post containing the substance of several months' thinking and reflection on the scientific evidences for and against global warming. I have attempted to keep an open mind and not discredit any one theory over the other. While I am busy organizing and typing out my thoughts, you can click your way over to these two posts, one of which* will make you think and the other will make you laugh and think, in true Doug Wilson form.

*Thanks to my brother for pointing me to the CFP article

The Effect of Television in Our Post-Modern Society

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to see a film about Queen Elizabeth and the way that she responds to Princess Diana's death in the hours and then weeks after it occurs. It was fascinating to revisit a time that I can recall vividly, and to experience through the medium of film a little of what the Queen, her family and advisers were going through in the weeks following the tragic accident. It was good to get some perspective from "the other side"and to see how Diana's death ended up threatening the monarchy. Even more intriguing was to see the royal stoicism of the Queen yielding at last to the humbling advice of her then newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

One thing that the film kept revisiting, and on which the story revolved, was that of the mass grief and hysteria of the British people following Diana's death. The question that struck me when it happened came to me again during the film. I have often wondered why (aside from the fact that it was a tragic way to die, and yet this sort of death commonly occurs) all of the public grief and obsession for a woman whom the larger part of the British population had never known personally? It was a question I asked again when "America's Prince", John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and sister-in-law perished in a plane crash and we saw a repeat of the same media fixation and public grief that is now becoming a common way of dealing with the deaths and tragedies of celebrities: those people we know intimately but have never met personally. Carl Trueman answers my question superbly in his book The Wages of Spin:

...The scenes of mass hysteria following the tragic death of a young mother were simply incredible - but what was really disturbing, if not a little frightening, was the language of familiarity which so many of the mourners interviewed on television used in connection with the princess. "She was a friend to us all"; "We felt she was one of our own; "She was like a big sister to me". Statements like this abounded, statements which implied that a real, personal relationship existed between Princess Diana and those being interviewed. Such was not the case: these individuals had come to know an image, albeit a carefully cultivated image, of a young woman they had never met but who entered their houses and their lives through the box of electronic wizardry in the corner of their living room. Then, at a moment of tragedy for the Princess and her close family and friends, these unknowns had also been swept up in the and been bereaved - not of a real friend, but of an image, of a character in a fantasy world. That they were incapable of discerning the difference is perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the power of television in our time.

-from chapter 2 of The Wages of Spin by Carl R. Trueman

Cisco Takes A Bite Into Apple

It's days like this one when you are glad that you don't have stock in Apple. After this lawsuit was announced today, Apple stock fell in after-hours trading. Oops. You would think Apple would cover it's backside before taking such a risky plunge as introducing a phone with a name that they know is already copyright-protected. Apple needs to get over thinking that because they're Apple and rule the technology world, they don't rule the real world. Copyright names means that they are legally protected. As in, no one else is allowed to use it.

Incidentally, Cisco* shares were up today. Now I'm thinking that stock in Cisco wouldn't be so bad right now...
(Actually, it all makes me grateful that I don't dabble in the stock market)

and yes, the title is bad, but I'm too tired to change it. :-)

Wow.

It's days like this one when you probably wish that you had Apple stock. If you don't already, that is. I'm just assuming my readers don't. It's up, incidentally, by 11%. Why? Only because these new iWonders were revealed:

The new iPhone.

To make a call, users can tap out the number on an onscreen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.

Apple is also introducing what it calls "visual voicemail," so users can jump to the most important messages rather than have to listen to all of them in order.

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. It also can send and display e-mail and text messages. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

With a few finger taps, Jobs demonstrated how to pull up a Google Maps site and find the closest Starbucks to the Moscone Center. He then prank-called the cafe and ordered 4,000 lattes to go before quickly hanging up.

It does even more. Read the rest here. See more pics here.

I'm starting my phone savings now. And rethinking the switch to T-Mobile.

The new Apple TV.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

I must confess that the tv doesn't hold the same appeal as the iPhone. I do like the design, though.

A small change in the name: Apple Computers, Inc. becomes Apple, Inc.
I wondered when they would change. Glad to see everything done at once. Nice efficiency.

David Wells: The Weightlessness of God

"The fact is, of course, that the New Testament never promises anyone a life of psychological wholeness or offers a guarantee of the consumer's satisfaction with Christ. To the contrary, it offers the prospect of indignities, loss, damage, disease, and pain. The faithful in Scripture were scorned, beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and executed. The gospel offers no promises that contemporary believers will be spared these experiences, that they will be able to settle down to the sanitized comfort of an inner life freed of stresses, pains, and ambiguities; it simply promises that through Christ, God will walk with us in all the dark places of life, and that he has the power and the will to invest his promises with reality, and that even the shadows are made to serve his glory and our best interests. "

God in The Wasteland

David Wells: The Weightlessness of God

"In a psychologized culture such as ours, there is deep affinity for what is relational but a dis-ease (sp) with what is moral. This carries over into the church as an infatuation with the love of God and an embarrassment at his holiness. We who are modern find it easier to believe God is like a Rogerian therapist who emphatically solicits our knowledge of ourselves and passes judgement on none of it than to think that he could have had any serious business to conduct with Moses.

This peculiarity of the modern disposition, this loss of substance and vigor, betrays our misunderstanding of God's immanence, his relatedness to creation. We imagine that the great purposes of life are psychological rather than moral. We imagine that the great purposes of life are realized in the improvement of our own private inner disposition. We imagine that for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, all things work together for their satisfaction and the inner tranquillity of their lives. Modernity has secured the triumph of the therapeutic over the moral even in the church."

-from God in The Wasteland

A (friendly) Public Defense

I have edited this post so that only the below remains of the original. A lot of what I said was pretty much tongue-in-cheek, but I realize that only my brother and my family would know that, so I am hereby deleting the original paragraph here, and beg that no one take me too seriously.

I would hereby like to state for the record that:
1. At the time of my statement quoted in the webzine, I was very nervous. After having avoided the video camera all evening, that man cornered me at the last and there was no escape.
2. I am horrible in front of cameras. This is why some people are actors and some are not.
3. I could not think of anything, and the man prompted me with: "How about something funny? Does your brother do anything you should warn Sarah about?" Thus my comment. It really is very lucky that his bad mood was the worst thing I could come up with at the moment. If someone said that a bad mood every now and then was my worst trait, I think that I would kiss that person. Cuz I have worse than that. Which brings me to this: I don't think it's Trent's, either, but I am note sure what is, then. (I suppose Sarah could help us on that one.)
The defense rests. :-)

I would also like to recommend my brother's article. If you have a minute, click your way on over to The Brew and read his front page article on depression. It has certainly gotten me thinking on depression, mental illnesses and a Biblical response to them, and I hope to post some thoughts on the subject throughout the weekend.

View Christmas vintage clip art here.

A Baby's Birth

The anticipation builds. Years of prophecy will soon be filled with the birth of a tiny baby in Bethlehem. His coming has been foretold by the prophets, and a nation waits for her King's birth. Will they know their king when he is born at last, humble and lowly mid the dirt, straw and animal filth? Who could know that this baby, this tiny human, is He who has come at last. Not just an earthly king, this baby is the One who was, and is, and ever more will be. He will live and die for His people, and for all who will follow Him. Israel did not know her King that night. But Mary, Joseph, shepherds and wise men did. The angels rejoiced in heaven, singing "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to all men." A song of praise for the baby born in Bethlehem. King Jesus has come.
Joy to the world!