Word of the Day - 10/29/2008

Glom

To glom is to steal.

The eighth commandment prohibits glomming.

"You shall not steal." (Exodus 20:15, NASB)

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/29/2008

On Tuesday, JTH and I returned from our trip to Myrtle Beach.

Our day began by eating lunch with ANDR and PCR. We drove from our hotel in North Myrtle to theirs in Myrtle Beach. We traversed this landscape via Interstate 17 so often over our two days at the beach that we wondered whether or not we traveled more in the city or going to it. This was the scene as we arrived in their room at the Holiday Inn Express. They knew we were coming.

Once we got the newlyweds out of bed, we followed them to the River City Cafe (located at 404 21st Avenue North). It is a burger joint that appears as though the roof could cave in at any moment. Naturally, I loved it. The combination of hamburgers and classic Paul Abdul playing in the background was as great as it sounds. Peanuts are at each table and the patron is permitted to discard the shells onto the restaurant’s wooden floors. This is one of life’s unexplained pleasures.

After lunch, JTH and I bid the newlyweds farewell. We then went to the former site of the Apache Motel (2709 S Ocean Blvd) where JTH and his family spent many family vacations. The location is now home to an Ocean Blue Luxury Condo.

We also stopped at the Springmade Pier, where JTH’s father spent many of his days on vacation. JTH was surprised that a $1 charge to walk the pier was invoked four years ago. The view was beautiful and there were fishermen everywhere. The fact that they are wearing winter attire in this photo should give you an idea of the windy weather we encountered on the trip. On this day, one of the fisherman caught a 28" fish but had to return it to its ocean home by law.

There were signs on the pier disallowing shark fishing and diving. If they allowed these activities they could really up their prices. I may write them a letter.

Before leaving the beach, we visited some gift shops. One of the largest was this establishment: the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove. We again found stores with swords, which are very popular in the area. We contemplated buying one for WAM and we are sure he would have loved it. We decided against that choice as we would have created a new variation on Matthew 26:52: Buy the sword, die by the sword. Our deaths would be accidental of course, but we would be assuredly be dead nevertheless.

I must note that a restaurant on the strip was called Fat Man’s Dream. I give Myrtle Beach credit. They have more creative business titles than any place I have ever visited.

We made two stops on the long trip home: first to a Goodwill in Conway, South Carolina (2913 Church St) and second to a huge souvenir shop in the middle of nowhere called Sharky’s. This store was featured on countless billboards advertising everything from shark's teeth to clean bathrooms. We felt compelled to stop.

Our biggest purchase was a book: Scratch & Solve Movie Hangman by Mike Ward. We played this game most of the way back. In this version, one received six missed letters before losing. We solved the first nineteen puzzles without any casualties before hanging Pinocchio. We speculate that we are some of the few to miss Pinocchio but to get Rutger Hauer. The fact that we know Hauer’s work is evidence that we have both worked in a movie store.

My only regret from the trip was that we did not have time to eat at Medieval Times. Reasons to make a return trip...

JTH and I arrived back in Knoxville in time to eat a late supper at Applebees with ALK. I had a feeling we might...

Amy was our waitress which offended AFH, who often serves us. We had not seen her in some time as she had just returned from a two week vacation that featured stops in Pennsylvania, Atlantic City, and Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was good to see her.

Amy invited us to her daughter Emma’s fifth birthday party the following day. We really eat at Applebees way too much...

Finally, Tuesday was KLTW’s 27th birthday. Happy birthday, Butterfinger! I love you!

Prayer Blog - 10/28/2008

Tomorrow at 2 pm, CMU, who regularly attends Bible study with me, faces sentencing regarding felony charges. He faces life in prison though that sentence is seemingly unlikely. Please keep all involved in this process in your prayers.

Here is an article regarding the case that appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on May 2nd:

Man pleads guilty to ID theft, fraud
Knoxville News Sentinel (TN) - Friday, May 2, 2008
Author: JAMIE SATTERFIELD (satterfield@knoxnews.com)

A 34-year-old Knoxville man who used how-to books to teach himself how to steal identities, and perform a little ninja mind manipulation to boot, pleaded guilty Thursday to a beefed-up federal law.

Christopher McEwan Ulmer admitted at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan that he concocted a complicated scheme to steal the identities of at least 19 people and used their personal information to trick banks into issuing him 22 credit cards, ripping off the institutions for more than $35,000.

Among the charges to which Ulmer confessed was an aggravated identity theft law recently authorized by Congress that beefs up penalties for the crime. Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Hamilton said that law requires that Ulmer serve a minimum mandatory two-year prison term on top of any other sentence he may receive for mail fraud and identity-theft charges to which he admitted guilt.

Ulmer was nabbed last year after U.S. Postal Inspections Agent Wendy Boles and her cohorts raided Ulmer ’s Jomandowa Lane home and discovered not only a computer full of fake identifi cation documents, including Social Security cards, pay stubs, utility bills and driver’s licenses, but a bookshelf stocked with instructional guides on how to defraud people and glean personal information from them.

Also in his how-to collection were books on the “techniques of ninja mind manipulation,” the crafting of disguises and tips for getting a date, federal court records show.

Ulmer suggested at Thursday’s hearing he might suffer from mental health woes.

“I was initially treated for schizophrenia and later for bipolar (disorder),” Ulmer said. “I don’t think they ever came to a defi nitive answer.”

Hamilton was quick to point out there was no evidence Ulmer , who has some college courses under his belt, is mentally incompetent.

Defense attorney Ralph Harwell agreed. “We have no problems or questions of his competency,” Harwell said.

Ulmer concocted a scheme to steal identities that involved the use of mailboxes of vacant homes in West and South Knoxville and the fooling of credit bureaus through the use of the addresses of those homes. Once Ulmer convinced credit bureaus to change key information on the reports of those people whose identities he had stolen, he was able to convince banks to issue him credit in others’ names, court records stated.

Varlan set an Aug. 27 sentencing hearing.

Bible Trivia - 10/28/2008

Question: Name the second wife of Abraham.

Answer: Keturah. (Genesis 25:1-10)

Comments: Abraham married Keturah after the death of his first and more famous wife, Sarah. Keturah bore Abraham six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. (Genesis 25:1-1) Abraham distinguished these children from the child of promise, Isaac. (Genesis 25:6)

Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. (Genesis 25:1, NASB)

Keturah's origins are unknown and some Jewish rabbis identify her with the previously exiled Hagar. This interpretation, set forth in the Midrash, is supported by Rashi (1040-1105), Obadiah ben Abraham (d. 1500), Gur Aryeh (1525-1609) and Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz (1550-1619). Others disputed this correlation claiming that Keturah was a previously unknown character. Supporters of this theory include Rashbam (1085-1158), Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167), David Kimhi (1160-1235), and Nahmanides (1194-1270).

Note: Keturah is a marginalized character in Biblical history. Images of her are sparse. This one of her and her six sons is from the Venice Haggadah of 1609.

Word of the Day - 10/28/2008

Farrago

A farrago is a confused mixture; hodgepodge; medley,

During the building of the Tower of Babel, God decided to make human languages a farrago. This decision effectively stopped construction of the edifice.

"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." (Genesis 11:7, NASB)

The name "Babel" is the Hebrew equivalent of Akkadian Babilu which denotes confusion.

Note: This woodcut of the Tower of Babel was created in 1928 by the famed Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher (1998-1972).

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/28/2008, Part 3

After the wedding, JTH and I were asked to join the bride and groom and her family at the Cracker Barrell. ANDR’s grandmother is “allergic” to fish (she really just abhors the smell of it) so we accommodated her by eating at the country staple.

En route, JTH and I made two stops, to Pacific Rem (a souvenir shop) and Roses (a department store). I had not been to a Roses since I was a kid in Newport.

The souvenir shop, like many of the places we went to, sold sharks in a jar. Why?

We then joined the bride’s family at the restaurant. Her father made fun of her mother for being northern. She is from Michigan, though she has lived in the south for some time. He ridiculed her for her inability to properly say, “slicker than a minnow’s Peter”. He asked JTH and I if we could pronounce the expression and we had to admit that we had never tried.

Afterwards, the bride and groom asked us to spend their wedding night with them. (You read that correctly.) We went across the highway to the Ron Jon Surf Shop before heading back to their hotel, the Holiday Inn Express. When we arrived, ANDR proudly displayed her new D’Eva Bra. She and JTH posed for this picture shortly after we arrived. Believe it or not, this moment was not the least bit awkward. I do not know if that is good or bad so you be the judge.

PCR and ANDR were staying in Room 115. The significance of this was that it once served as a conference room and as such had a very high ceiling. The ceiling was so high that one could jump on the bed without hitting one’s head. We know this because one tried to do so.

This also gave us a chance to play volleyball in the room. The room adjoined with ANDR’s grandmother’s so her little brother Hunter joined us. (This family must be really close.) When this grew boring, we added a degree of difficulty. A chair was placed in front of the bed and JTH practiced hurdling the chair, diving on the bed, while hitting the ball back to PCR. As you can see, ANDR filmed this. Of all the things to film on your honeymoon...

Afterwords, JTH and I made the trek back to our hotel in North Myrtle Beach where we played Sudoku, which did often on this trip. JTH also texted ALK continuously. Their conversation must not have been too riveting as he fell asleep mid-text. This is not a posed photo. ALK do not feel bad, he does this with everyone.

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/28/2008, Part 2

On Monday at approximately 5:45 pm, I officiated the wedding ceremony of PCR and AND. We walked to the beach and started the wedding the very moment the bride and groom step foot on the beach. This was not my first outdoor wedding. This was not even my first wedding in the Palmetto State. This was, however, different from any wedding I have ever done. There was no aisle, no music, and frankly no planning to speak of. Though I would not do my wedding this way, it was great.

The wedding was conducted directly behind Sea Oats by the Grove on Cherry Grove Beach. The location was significant as PCR stayed at the nearby Hartford Motor Inn at least once a year for as long as he can remember. (The hotel will be demolished soon.) This was PCR’s fourth visit to Myrtle Beach this year.

The date was also significant. October 27th marked the anniversary of their first date. The high temperature in Myrtle Beach on this day was 68 degrees and 5:45 did not represent day’s high. With the wind blowing heavily, the bride’s grandmother admitted that she wished the couple had a met a few months earlier.

Ten people attended. That tally included the bride and groom. The party consisted of the couple, the bride’s father, step-mother, grandmother and brother, the groom’s parents, JTH and me. JTH was the photographer and I was the minister. (The photos of me in this post were taken by JTH who had my cell phone much of the day.) It was an honor to be a part of such an intimate event.

It was very strange not wearing a robe for the wedding. Of all people, I never dreamt that I would be affected by wearing casual attire at a typically formal event. My ensemble did have significance. I wore my Fantastic Four t-shirt at the bride’s request. She attaches special significance to the number four and as her MySpace URL suggests has four stars tattooed on her arm. I also wore a Quiksilver hoodie over it as PCR loves and sells the clothing brand.

I tailor each wedding to the couple’s specifications. On this day, that meant that the wedding was going to be done quickly. I made the ceremony as meaningful as possible given the time allotted. Since it was the new couple’s last name, I could not resist urge to preach the charge on Ruth. I used Ruth 1:17 as the Scriptural basis. It was the first time I have ever duplicated the Scripture for a wedding though I had not used this passage since my first wedding in 2003.

I met all of the couple’s requests and they seemed please. This was never more evident than when the post-wedding photos took longer than the ceremony itself. This was probably good as we had no permit to be there. It would not have mattered. The beach was dead.

The wedding was perfectly flawed. The groom’s father had no idea that he was in possession of his son’s titanium ring. (He thought they had just given him a random box. Seriously.) The bride stopped the wedding as I was pronouncing the couple husband and wife. It seems the lost ring threw me and though I had explained the significance of the rings, I had never explicitly had the couple exchange them. No one cared. The wedding was perfectly imperfect, as they all should be.

So from now on, the couple is PCR and ANDR.

The couple will have two receptions during over the weekend after hey return to Knoxville.

As for this day, they were off to celebrate. They invited JTH and myself back to their hotel room. I have done a lot of weddings and been close to a lot of the couples I have married. This was the first time I had been asked to spend the honeymoon night with the couple. On this night, it did not seem that irregular...

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/28/2008, Part 1

On Monday, JTH and I shuffled throughout the day between North Myrtle Beach, where we are staying, and Myrtle Beach. After going from city to city all day, I can assure you that there is a valid reason the two are considered separate entities.

We got a late start, but met PCR and AND and PCR’s parents at the House of Blues in Barefoot Landing to decide where to eat lunch. Barefoot Landing was a good meeting place as PCR and AND were staying in Myrtle Beach while PCR’s parents were staying near us in North Myrtle Beach. After much discussion (read: understatement) on the matter, it was decided that we would be making our first excursion of the day into Myrtle Beach.

We met at Broadway at the Beach to eat at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. As its name suggests, the café is a massive eatery with an “island escapism” theme based upon Buffett’s songs. Before entering I did check out the nearby Foxworthy Store. I investigated to see if there was an entire store devoted to Jeff Foxworthy. It was not, though I suspect he and his fans would shop there. I think it is safe to say that you might be a redneck if you like the Foxworthy Store.

Back inside the restaurant, we had a delightful waitress named Patrycja. She immigrated from Poland and though she has lived here longer than there, she still has the accent. Naturally, I got her to say, “G Unit!” Though she did not understand why, she accommodated me. The power of wanting a tip…

I enjoyed the meal and spending time with PCR’s family. I felt obligated to order the Cheeseburger in Paradise – with no cheese. Neither my mother nor I like cheeseburgers. We think it goes back to our Jewish roots. (That is actually true but that is another story for another day.) While eating, in conjunction with a video of a Buffett song this massive storm in the ceiling made an equally sizeable margarita in front of us. I am told by PCR, who is practically a Myrtle Beach resident, that the effect is greater at night.

After lunch we all posed for photos for PCR’s mom. PCR’s mom is really sweet, paid for the meal and was suffering from the flu, so we humored her. After this impromptu photo session the group went its separate ways, We would reunite later in the day for PCR's wedding. In the meantime, JTH and I shopped in Myrtle Beach. Fortunately, JTH is one of the few men who enjoys shopping as much as I do.

We visited the Myrtle Beach Mall and several of the countless novelty/souvenir stores like this Bargain Beachware shop . My impression of Myrtle Beach is that it may rival Pigeon Forge for title of redneck heaven. If you are interested in pancakes, swords, or personalized merchandise, this is the vacation spot for you. My two favorite store names: 4:20 and Tar Baby's Pancakes.

The plan eventually had PCR calling us twenty minutes before he needed us on the beach for the wedding. Yes, you read that correctly. There was no set time or place for these nuptials. So what was the minister doing before the wedding? Buying a glow in the dark condom for one of his parishioners (KLTW’s birthday was the following day) and listening to the Geto Boys’ song “Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta” on repeat.

Associated Baptist Press - 10/27/2008

Associated Baptist Press
October 27, 2008 · (08-102)

David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Acting Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer


In this issue
Carter: Next president should focus on human rights (868 words)
Georgia Baptist pastor resigns after another brush with law (435 words)
Newly deployed soldiers benefit from chaplain's experience in Iraq (488 words)
Opinion: Friendship as a gift from God (759 words)

Carter: Next president should focus on human rights
By Mark Vanderhoek (868 words)

MACON, Ga. (ABP) -- President Jimmy Carter called upon the next president -- whoever he is -- to focus on retoring human rights as a primary objective in American foreign policy in an Oct. 23 speech.

The 39th president -- now an international activist -- made his remarks during the second annual Mercer University President's Lecture Series, on the Georgia Baptist school's Macon campus.

Carter's speech touched on many of the themes in his best-selling book, Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis. He chose one endangered value in particular -- human rights -- saying that there has been a deviation "from what Christ taught and what our national policies have become."

Recounting a question recently posed to him by a reporter from the British newspaper The Guardian, Carter said he was asked what the next president could do in his first 100 days in office to restore the standing of the United States abroad. Carter responded that the next administration could restore America's standing in just 10 minutes.

"I outlined the inaugural address that could be given this coming January," Carter said of his conversation with the reporter, saying that the next president should declare: "'While I am president there will never be another person tortured [in U.S. custody]. The United States will regain its position as the preeminent champion of human rights. We will abandon our policy of preemptive war. We will never attack another nation again unless our own security is threatened. That's been our policy since George Washington -- until six years ago.

"'America will be at the forefront of combating global warming, and will lead in meeting all challenges to the world's environment. Our tax policy will be designed to help the poor and working families, and not the few richest Americans. We will restore our recent rejection of every nuclear-arms-control agreement that has been negotiated since the time of Dwight Eisenhower. At this time, all those are in the waste can. And we will reduce our nuclear arsenal to zero. We will rebuild the Jeffersonian wall between church and state,'" Carter said, drawing a round of applause from the crowd of nearly 1,000 gathered in Mercer's Willingham Auditorium.

Pointing to his upbringing in the rural, segregated South and his time as president, when he pushed human rights to the forefront of his political agenda, Carter said that America still has a lot to do when it comes to human rights, but that the struggle has seen setbacks both at home and abroad since 9/11.

"America didn't invent human rights; human rights invented America," he said.

Since leaving office, Carter established the Carter Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that addresses national and international issues of public policy. Through his work with that organization to expand human rights through the United Nations, Carter said that two of his major initiatives -- establishment of a world criminal court and a U.N. high council on human rights -- have been resisted at the U.N. by the United States, particularly since Sept. 11, 2001.


"Since then, the U.S. government has abandoned its role as a champion of human rights, and has condoned or perpetrated terrible abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prison," Carter lamented. "Our government has sent prisoners secretly to other nations where they knew they could be tortured. They denied the applicability of the Geneva Conventions, which were designed to help protect American prisoners. And we have severely restricted personal privacy, which was a time-honored civil liberty in their own country."

In addition to the U.S. government's failings, which which Carter said have emboldened human-rights abuses by governments around the world, he noted his work with the Carter Center has also shed light on another violation of basic human rights: discrimination against women.

"The foundation for this unequal treatment is within the major religions, which are almost impervious to either criticism or change," Carter said, noting that in parts of Africa, female circumcision is condoned by religious authorities and in America the Southern Baptist Convention encourages a subordinate role for women in churches and marriage.

"Despite many examples of progress, I would say that global acceptance and enforcement of the [U.N.] Universal Declaration of Human Rights has reached an all-time low," Carter said. "Global observance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is worse now than it has been for the last 60 years. Under the current administration, the United States is a gross violator of key provisions of the declaration."

Citing numerous examples of the declaration's provisions that current U.S. policies violate, including the right of habeas corpus, right to trial, as well as freedom from torture, Carter concluded with a call to action, and for a new start when the next president takes office.

"These have been some extremely critical remarks, but I'm speaking as a former president of one of the world's great democracies, to show that all of us need to exert or renew our efforts to ensure that in the future we Americans will be able to celebrate and not apologize for our compliance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Carter said. "Beginning in January, we need to set an unblemished example for the rest of the world to follow."

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-- Mark Vanderhoek is Mercer University's director of media affairs.


Georgia Baptist pastor resigns after another brush with law
By Bob Allen (435 words)

WARRENTON, Ga. (ABP) -- The pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Georgia has resigned his pulpit after being indicted on federal charges of tax evasion in Maryland.

It is not the first time that Otis Ray Hope has been in a highly publicized dispute over church-related business dealings.

Hope resigned Oct. 21 as pastor of First Baptist Church of Warrenton, Ga. According to the McDuffie Mirror, a newspaper based in nearby Thomson, Ga. Hope had been called as the church's permanent pastor four months ago, after serving as interim pastor.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore indicted Hope Aug. 14 on three counts of tax evasion and one count of subscribing to a false document. Prosecutors allege that Hope falsely set up a Christian camp he owned in Hagerstown, Md., as a 501(c)(3) corporation and failed to claim $843,410 in taxable income over a three-year period.

Hope told the Georgia paper he had done nothing wrong, and the Shiloh Conference and Retreat Center was a legitimate tax-exempt charity.

The government says Hope falsely told the IRS the non-profit was supported by donations, offerings and tithes, and its customers did not have to pay for benefits, services or products. The indictment charged that Shiloh Ministries raised revenue by charging customers for rent. The document also said the company claimed to offer worship services that were not actually conducted.

Prosecutors say Hope owes about $270,000 in unpaid taxes for the years 2001, 2002 and 2003. If convicted, Hope could face up to five years in prison in addition to fines.

It is not the pastor's first brush with the law. In 1991 he was one of several defendants named in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of seeking to defraud investors by selling $20 million in debt while promising return rates of up to 60 percent a year. Hope and the other defendants settled the lawsuit, without admitting guilt, in 2000.

In 2002, Hope resigned after a tumultuous six-and-a-half year pastorate at Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, Md. Church leaders said Hope had a conflict of interest because he set up a company to recruit foreign students to attend Montrose Christian School. While not alleging any criminal wrongdoing, church officials said the company owed the church's school about $580,000.

Hope fired four senior staff members at the church who questioned his ties to the recruiting organization.

In 1997, Hope dismissed three Montrose Christian School employees who filed suit, claiming they were unfairly terminated because they were not church members. A judge ruled in their favor, but the ruling was overturned on appeal.
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Newly deployed soldiers benefit from chaplain's experience in Iraq
By Vicki Brown (488 words)

ATLANTA (ABP) -- "How do you plan to stay in touch with your family while you're deployed?" Army chaplain Jim Kirkendall frequently asks young soldiers.

It's one of the many topics Kirkendall addresses during personal visits with military personnel of the Army's 95th Division, based in Oklahoma City, in preparing them for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

As one of about 600 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors, Kirkendall extends the ministry of the Fellowship to members of the military and their families. Those ministries were recognized as part of Pastoral Care Week, Oct. 20-26.

Soldiers are required to attend mandatory briefings by many Army departments -- from the judge advocate general to family readiness. During these sessions, Kirkendall addresses the emotional impact of deployment and suicide prevention. He shares experiences from his own year-long deployment in Iraq.

From 2006 to 2007, Kirkendall was attached to the Logistics Support Area (LSA) Anaconda, in Balad, Iraq, where he counseled soldiers and visited the wounded and workers at the Air Force Theater Hospital and the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility.

Kirkendall saw suffering among both civilian and military personnel. While visiting soldiers and chaplains at the Air Force Theater Hospital, he heard, "Trauma code ER, trauma code ER." He and another chaplain arrived in the emergency room as medics rushed into the facility a 10-year-old boy who had been shot in the head.

"So there he was, a small 10-year-old with no family around him but with two Christian military chaplains, each holding onto his hands and praying as he died," Kirkendall said.

While in Iraq, he ministered to a mixture of American, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani, Turkish, Russian and Iraqi civilians and to soldiers from all branches of the U.S. military. He also conducted training sessions for 25 junior chaplains.

"At LSA Anaconda, suffering was demonstrated by being absent from our loved ones for a very long time, death of a comrade, frustration in the office due to overbearing supervisors, lack of communication with family, spouse deciding to start a relationship with someone else and leave the soldier in Iraq, injured soldiers with limbs violently removed from their bodies, civilians caught in the middle between scratching out a living and having a war exploding around them, to interpreters using false names so their identity would be concealed," he said. "And the list goes on. The bottom line is, God is still there."

Now, Kirkendall talks with Oklahoma-based soldiers about the challenges they are likely to face. He also serves as chaplian for the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs.

"I love being a chaplain because I have a unique ministry of going where others cannot go," said Kirkendall.

"The average pastor doesn't get to go behind the fence of the medium- and maximum-secured areas ... with 12- to 18-year-old adjudicated juvenile delinquents," he said, or "to serve in a combat zone and serve soldiers where life-and-death issues are addressed every day."

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Opinion: Friendship as a gift from God
By Beth Newman (759 words)

(ABP) -- The other day my son was talking to me about the playground antics of a little girl named Candace. It was obvious that Candace was quite a live wire and that he found her extremely amusing. As the stunts she pulled off grew more outrageous, I asked whether the teacher hadn't objected. "She's not in my class; she's on T.V." was his response. In his imagination, the cartoon world was as real as the world of the school yard.

Of course, imaginary friends are a typical phenomenon of childhood, but increasingly it seems a fixture of the adult world as well. For instance, the beaming faces that read the news or traffic reports on television appear as real to us as the people across the street. They even use the language of "community" to describe the relationship between themselves (as well as their sponsors) and us. Perhaps they seem more real.

This is not surprising. Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon observed some years ago that we live in a society where "we are kept detached, strangers to one another as we go about fulfilling our needs and asserting our rights."

This was brought home to me not long ago when our children wandered into a neighbor's yard, eager to jump on their trampoline. When I asked the mother if it was OK, she responded, "Promise you will not sue me."

Like this mother, all of us are easily caught up in cultural forces that tear us apart, detach us from commitments to persons and places and lead us to focus on "my rights" over yours. Our imaginations have become impoverished about what true friendship or neighborliness even looks like.

The church recognizes something of this. And it is common now to emphasize the "relational" nature of what the outsider/visitor/potential member will find within a particular congregation. And churches compete to proclaim themselves as more friendly or open or inviting than their competitors.

I wonder, though, whether we've done the hard work of discerning what true friendship means.

This is not a new challenge. The Greek philosopher Aristotle distinguished three kinds of friendship.

First, according to Aristotle, are friendships of usefulness. Persons are friends because of the "good they get out of it." Examples would be business partners or neighbors who owned dogs and were friends because they "dog-sat" for each other.

Second are friendships of pleasure where people are friends because of the pleasure they get out of it. Examples of this kind would be friends who get together because they enjoy the same movies or hobby.

Are these really friendships, when it sounds as if you're simply using the other for what you need or for pleasure? Aristotle's answer would be "yes," since these kinds of friendships do in fact bring people together. You know your neighbor, her name, the dog's name and probably a lot more. You do an activity with someone else versus sitting alone in front of your T.V. You're not strangers.

While counting these as friendship, Aristotle did say that "such friendships are easily dissolved ... the affection ceases as soon as one partner is no longer pleasant or useful to the other."

Therefore, Aristotle described a third, more binding friendship: a friendship of virtue where friends share a common vision of the good; the virtue each sees in the other brings friends together. Hence, Aristotle's familiar quotation: "a friend is another self." We choose friends based on what is most important.

Friendship is, of course, at the heart of Christian discipleship. In a well-known passage from John 15, Jesus says, "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends...." Jesus continues, however, "You did not choose me but I chose you."

It is this later point that distinguishes Aristotle's Greek friendship from Christian friendship. As Augustine emphasized, we do not choose our friends, God does. It is not simply our virtue that draws us together. Rather, friends are brought together by God, a sign of God reaching into our lives and working on our behalf.

Augustine imagined ecclesial friendship as a school of Christian love. Such friendship is not turned inward. It is rather the place we learn the practices and virtues necessary to expand our lives, hearts and minds so that we can truly welcome the stranger.

In a world where we have increasingly become strangers to one another, let's imagine the difference between being "friendly" and practicing friendship as a gift from God.

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-- Beth Newman is professor of theology and ethics at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. bnewman@btsr.edu

Prayer Blog - 10/27/2008

Today, on a beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, I officiated a wedding ceremony joining AND and PCR. Please pray that God bless this union.

Bible Trivia - 10/27/2008

Question: What was Paul's trade?

Answer: A tent-maker. (Acts 18:2-3)

Comments: While Paul was on his "third missionary journey" in Corinth he also worked as a tentmaker alongside Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2-3). Unlike other traveling teachers of the Hellenistic world, it was customary for Jewish rabbis to be bivocational so that they would not have to charge for their instruction. Paul's native province (he was fromTarsus in Cilicia) exported goats' hair cloth called "cilicium" which was used primarily in tentmaking. It is likely that Paul learned this trade there.

and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. (Acts 18:3, NASB)

Today the term tent-maker refers to any minister who supports herself by unrelated work.

Note: This illustration of "He earned his living by making tents" was created by Annie Vallotton.

Word of the Day - 10/27/2008

Cognate

A cognate means related by birth; of the same parentage, descent, etc. In linguistics, cognate means descended from the same language or form, e.g. cognate languages such as French and Spanish.

In the book's opening chapter, Matthew's genealogy makes it clear that Jesus was cognate to David. This is noted in the opening verse of the book and the connection is accentuated by the account being divided into three 14-part increments. The letters of David's name have a numeric value of fourteen. David's is also the only name listed twice in the list as he was present at the end of the first historic division and the beginning of the second.

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: (Matthew 1:1, NASB)

Matthew wants his Jewish audience to know that Jesus was a legitimate heir.

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/27/2008, Part 4

At 7:06 on Sunday night, JTH and I hit the road to Cherry Grove Beach in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to participate in PCR's wedding. Our late start was due to JTH being in JPJ's wedding at 4 pm in Lenoir City.

The "plan" was for us to go as far as we could on Sunday night and complete the trip on Monday morning. We ended up making the entire trip in one night.

We talked through the first leg of the trip until we realized that Colleen's Classic Country USA was playing in the background. JTH brought CDs so we listened to the high quality vocal stylings of Hilary Duff for the remainder of the trip. We heard her self-titled album, Metamorphosis, and Most Wanted, and many times over. (That is not the least bit unmasculine...) Well, I did anyway. JTH had been up with ALK to 4 am the previous night. He dozed in and out of consciousness after 9 pm.

My favorite part of the discussion came when JTH shared a recent conversation with his father, CEH (aka "Homer"), regarding what to call ALK. He wrote it down for posterity.

Homer: "Does she go by Mandy or Amanda?"
JTH: "Amanda, but you can call her Mandy if you want. "
Homer: "I'll call her @$$hole if I want to."

Can you see why I love Homer so much? Guess what ALK's new nickname is? Actually I call her "Sweet Bart".

We broke the trip up at the "Hot Spot" convenience store in Enoree, South Carolina at 10 pm. I got gas and some burgers from Hardees. I rarely eat fast food and hadn't eaten at a Hardees in years. My grandparents would have been proud.

JTH also got food at the rest stop. His OCD got the better of him and he needed to wash hands. Unfortunately, he could not find the napkins he had brought for such an occasion. He then informed me he was about to perform one of the stupidest acts he had ever committed. I seriously doubted this but he then proceeded to take a water bottle and wash his hands in the freezing wind outside. This worked far better than either of us anticipated though if he gets sick on this trip, we will know why. Shortly after this, he found the napkins.

The trip went smoothly until the last leg. In fact, we were making such good time that I made the executive decision to complete the journey in one night. Then, all Chan broke loose. First, we missed a turn as my navigator was texting his girlfriend. (I am not blaming him though...) This one missed turn cost us nearly half an hour, negating most of the time we had saved. There was simply nowhere to U-Turn and our trusty Garmin had us make a U-Turn involving three different highways!

When we got to Cherry Grove, we struggled to find lodging. Actually, we struggled to choose lodging and when we did the aforementioned Garmin gave us convoluted routes that involved difficult to read loops. I was driving "efficiently" when a police officer noticed my mad skills. He U-turned and then proceeded to tailgate for several minutes that seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, he did not pull us over.

We finally checked into the Hampton Inn Harbourgate in North Myrtle Beach at 1:57 am. We are in room 121 if you need to reach us. JTH has vowed to turn off his cell phone for the remainder of the trip leaving me responsible for all communication. Does this seem unwise to anyone else?

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/27/2008, Part 3

Sunday marked the 300th day of 2008 and WAM’s birthday.

My Sunday began where it often does, at church. I taught Sunday School class 3A in Room 215. The large group is comprised of some great middle aged couples, many of whom I knew well. The group’s usual teacher, JKM, was away on business and I was honored to fill in. I picked a great week to visit as on the last Sunday of the month, the group meets early and eats an assortment of great food that they bring.

I was disappointed that HTB, a good friend, and member of the class could not attend. My pastor is ill and HTB filled the pulpit in his stead. Thankfully, I did get to chat with HTB briefly before class.

I taught the class I Samuel 24-31. Not surprisingly, my animated telling of eight chapters took the majority of the class. I had fun and hope they did as well. I also learned an expression. When BJR (pictured above) was asked how she was, she responded, “as fine as frog hair.” That was new to me.

Afterwards, I took WAM to Shoney’s for his birthday. When I take someone to eat, it is first class all the way. WAM was his usual entertaining self. For WAM’s brilliance, check out the WAM Quote of the Day.

Happy Birthday, WAM!

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/27/2008, Part 2

On Saturday morning, I ate with my parents at IHOP before we all participated in early voting. Despite doing both of these activities together, we took three vehicles to each locale. We actually had to wait in line to vote in the Downtown West shopping center. This worked out well as it gave us time to catch up with JMI and PRI, friends from church who were also voting early.

After careful (and prayerful) consideration, I voted for Barack Obama. This is not a popular choice in my neck of the woods, but my political views are based upon the Bible’s prophetic tradition and the words of Jesus and I voted my conscience. I document this in writing and photographically in the event that his detractors are correct and he is indeed the antichrist. You may blame me. (Note: That was also my way of demonstrating that I think this theory is absurd on many levels.)

I would discuss my rationale for this more, but frankly I have had too many conversations on this topic lately.

After voting, I made a brief visit to hang out with JTH and TK at MoFoS. When I arrived they were closing down the store to head to the bank. This was clearly a two-man job that necessitated the store’s closing.

On Saturday night, I fulfilled another civic duty: I watched the Tennessee-Alabama football game with my dad. Dad has been out of town during the last two games, so it was especially great being together despite another Vols’ loss, 29-9. Frankly, UT never really challenged the #2 ranked Tide.

Some random thoughts regarding the telecast:

• Todd Blackledge’s Taste of the Town feature was done at Ye Olde Steak House. Blackledge does a great job of selecting restaurants and making the food look good. The food at this place is as good as he suggests.
  
• On Saturday, Duke scored an upset victory at Vanderbilt, 10-7. (It felt very strange typing that a Vanderbilt loss was an upset.) The win improved the Blue Devils’ record to 4-3 in their first year under former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe. Despite a loss yesterday, Kentucky’s offense has improved dramatically in former offensive coordinator Randy Sanders’ three years there. Maybe the problem with the Vols’ abysmal offense does not lie with the coordinator...
  
• Heath Shuler highlights were shown during the broadcast. He is now a congressman in his home state of North Carolina. It just goes to show you that lacking the intelligence to quarterback an NFL team does not mean you are not enough to serve in Congress...
  

In Eckleburg's Eyes - 10/27/2008, Part 1

Friday represented the beginning of the Tennessee-Alabama football weekend. The game is played in Knoxville every other year and the town is packed when this occurs. This coupled with a rainy day made traffic heavy throughout the day.

I spent Friday evening with KJW and RAW. KLTW was at work in Morristown as usual. We watched cartoons with an exhausted KJW. (She had napped for only an hour earlier in the day.) We began with an episode of a strange show called The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. The show premiered on the Cartoon Network on June 5th. The premise is that Flapjack is a boy who was raised by a whale until he met a pirate who inspired him to go on adventures for candy. Did I mention that this show is strange?

Afterwards, KJW struggled to stay up but did not want to miss an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She has been fascinated by the franchise since a co-promotional deal with McDonald’s scored her Star Wars toys this summer. (Well played, marketing gurus.) She especially likes R2-D2. We told her it was on but flipped the channels in between programs. The two-year old responded by asking, “If Star Wars is on, why are we watching this?” We could not argue with her logic. She is definitely RAW’s child.

RAW and I were completely content spending our Friday night watching cartoons with the exhausted child snuggled between us. Friends, we are old.

Prayer Blog - 10/26/2008, #3

During this past week, while on Fall Break, my youngest cousin, HLN, visited her older sister at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. While there, she auditioned as a dancer. She is presently contemplating attending the school. Please keep her choice of colleges in your prayers.

Prayer Blog - 10/26/2008, #2

Today, JTH and I are traveling to Myrtle Beach to attend PCR’s wedding. Our plan (if you want to call it that) is to travel as far as we can tonight and complete the journey tomorrow morning. The wedding will be shortly before sunset. We have an appointment in Knoxville on Wednesday so again we will attempt to drive though the night Tuesday and return to Knoxville on Wednesday morning. Please keep our travels in your prayers.

Prayer Blog - 10/26/2008

Today, JPJ was married today at 4 pm in Lenoir City. Please pray that God grants the newlyweds the strength to fulfill their vows.

Separated at Birth?

While watching the World Series, I have noticed a striking resemblance between Philadelphia Phillies’ right fielder Jayson Werth and WWE wrestler Edge. I am evidently not the only one as I found this image online. No word on how many long-term relationships Werth has broken up...

WAM Quote of the Day - 10/26/2008

This morning, WAM and I ate breakfast at Shoney’s at 11 am in celebration of his birthday. WAM was in rare form, even for him. My absolute favorite quote was a typical WAM non sequitur:

WAM: “Dress up as William Wallace.” [Note: Wallace (1272-1305) was the Scottish patriot featured in the 1995 film Braveheart.]

Chan: “For Halloween?”

WAM: “Sure...random thought...I don’t have the costume yet but I’m sure I could get it...”

Other highlights:

• WAM exaggerated strict Baptist dogma characterizing “Pizza Hut and dancing, the evils of our time.”
  
• Regarding the advantages of being imprisoned to being homeless he listed one of the benefits as “shooting hoops with the boys.” Hearing him say this was priceless. I wish I could have documented the entire diatribe on this topic.
  
• On Barack Obama: “I don’t like his politics, his policies, his associations, or his ideas.” He said this shortly after I informed him that I voted for Obama! I love WAM!

I don’t know if WAM enjoyed his birthday meal, but I sure did.