Hidden truth

Thinking about the theme of theology/truth as story, myth, mystery, I’ve been hunting for good examples of this. Within the past week I’ve discovered two great ones.

The Secret Country is a book that I’ve been reading to my 7 and 5 year-old sons at bedtime. It’s an engaging story about a young boy who meets a talking cat from Eidolon, “The Secret Country” and uncovers a scheme where creatures are being smuggled out of Eidolon into our world. All of the creatures suffer and start to die in our world because there is “no magic”. I haven’t finished the book yet, but there are countless alegories in the book that echo the Christian tradition, and it’s fun to read.

Because of Winn Dixie is a delightful movie (my wife says it’s a GREAT book too… she read it to our kids as well) about a little girl whose mother ran away and who’s father is a hurting and marginally effective preacher in a small town in Florida. Opal (the little girl) befriends a dog who she names Winn Dixie. The dog with a penchant for meeting people and smiling a lot (hard to tell if it’s just CG or they found a dog that can smile) introduces Opal to a bunch of “sad” people all isolated from each other and in the process builds genuine and beautiful community. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all live like Opal?

See more progress on: start a post-modern theology discussion group

Eleanor Rigby

Just finished the book by Douglas Coupland. Just wanted to share a quote from his fictional character Liz:

You have to decide whether you want God to be here with you as a part of everyday life, or whether you want God to be distant from you, not returning until you've created a world perfect enough fro Him to re-enter.

Tips for longer rides

Like I said I did 20 miles on Saturday and it was HOT. Memo to myself and anyone else listen:

1. Drink LOTS of water (1 bottle per hour minimum). It's hard to do but if you don't you'll BONK hard.


2. Clif Shots are AWESOME. I was starting to run out of steam but I forced myself to eat one of these (they taste great, but you don't feel like eating in hot weather) and within a few minutes I was starting to feel better. Could be psychosomatic, but hey, if it works!


3. Use sunscreen. It keeps you cooler. That's not the best article, but I couldn't find a better one. I originally read about it in this book or this one. I forgot to wear it on Saturday and I imagine it would've helped (despite the fact that I didn't burn)


4. Pace yourself. Know what you can average pushing yourself as hard as you can across a short distance (less than 10 miles) and don't expect to get anywhere near that across a longer one. At least not until you're in much better shape.

Brutal hill

I went riding on Saturday. Temperatures were in the mid-nineties and I was returning from a 20 mile ride so perhaps my recollection isn't terribly objective. However, the hill up Grassy Creek Rd. from Osceola Springs Road is a big one. It's about .75 miles and gains about 200 feet in vertical. The average gradient is easily 7% (though my cyclocomputer doesn't do averages... I think) but the part that makes it brutal is a 100m section towards the top where it averages 10% and regularlly bumps up to 11% or 12%. Then to add insult to injury there are 2-3 other little hills on the way back out towards Port Republic that just remind you that you're out of shape.

Plot patents?

Some folks are considering patents on plotlines? What on earth would be the purpose of copyright then? And why is the fact that Amazon patented 1-click justification for this idea. They seem like very different beasts to me.

I love "This is Broken"

Everyday I get a little chuckle from This is Broken. Today's Gentlemanly Ladies Room or 10,000 Step Manual for a pedometer put a smile on my face.