Road Trip … Day 2 …

Our second day began with a "Continental Breakfast" at the hotel. We then mapped out our day and thought it good to stop by Barnes & Noble on the Northwest Highway at Central Expressway. I admitted in the previous post on our "Road Trip" to being a bibliophile. This Barnes & Noble satisfied the appetite for a good book. Very nice. Generally Barnes & Noble are spacious and this one was not exception. In fact, the two story structure may not have had any more floor space than the ones we frequent but it "felt" bigger. Everyone found something to their liking. Micah and Kristen mentioned Cormac McCarthy as a must read and so we picked up, All the Pretty Horses. Though they served Starbuck’s coffee, they were not a "Starbuck’s." At any rate the refreshments were to our liking.

Our real goal of the day was to take in a Van Gogh exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. We did not really think there would be much of a crowd on a Thursday after Christmas. We were wrong. The place was buzzing. I took some notes and plan a separate post on some of the things I learned during the tour while listening to the accompanying audio. Patty and I found this to be a huge highlight. We discovered an upcoming Matisse exhibit from January through April we will try to get down to Dallas to view.I am a big Van Gogh fan and this only heightened my intrigue.

We worked up quite an appetite and headed for the West End. Seeing the expressions of our "nearly grown" children looking at the "skyscrapers" reminded us of their earlier years when mesmerized by new discoveries.
We found  Landry’s Seafood to our liking. Since we ate a late afternoon lunch we were among the few customers and our waitress was outstanding.
Two full days left us ready to get back to the hotel and unwind. We watched the end of the Oklahoma State-Alabama football game and believe it or not, cheered for the Pokes! Another trip to the whirlpool for the evening and we were ready to call it a night. We got up on Friday and meandered our way back to Tuttle making a few stops along the way. We went to San Moon and the Outlet Mall at Gainseville finally stopping for a late lunch at Two Frogs Grill in Ardmore,OK.

We enjoyed our time and look forward to another "Road Trip" destination in the future.

Road Trip … Day 1 …

"On the road again." When Patty and I moved to Dallas in 1985 we often made the trip north on I-35 to OKC. Christmas. Thanksgiving. Birthdays. Special Events. Funerals. Regular were our trips. We often sang that line from an old Willie Nelson song, "On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again." We have not been to Dallas as a family save one time since moving to Tuttle in 1994. When our kids  wanted to take a trip between Christmas and New Year’s we thought a trip south would be  both easy and fun. We left Wednesday about 9 a.m. and headed south on I-35. We were sure of two things - Interstate 35 would take us to Dallas and we would encounter road construction in both Oklahoma and Texas. It is just a staple of the trip.

We could not check-in to the hotel until the afternoon. We knew we would arrive around lunch time. The girls wanted to go to Grapevine Mills Mall in Grapevine. Nothing like the need to spend the "Christmas cash!" We thought lunch would be good before shopping. (Most of the time anything is good before shopping!) Craig  suggested we eat at the Rainforest Cafe. The food was good and the surroundings fascinating. The colorful saltwater fish in the huge aquariums offered quite the visual meal. Dancing gorillas, thunder and a fellow making balloon animals were just a few of the additions to the overall experience. Once we finished it was time to "crawl." The girls found some bargains and I confess to a few of my own. One sure stop was the anchor bookstore - Books a Million. I picked up a couple of magazines. Some years ago during my dabble at investing a stock broker suggested buying some shares of BAMM. What a disaster. Not sure why I would go in but there is little restraint for some bibliophiles like me. I did pick up a couple of magazines - US News and World Report’s Collector’s Edition, "Mysteries of Faith: The Prophets" and the current edition of Adbusters.

We made the short trip from Grapevine Mills to the Courtyard just off of I-635 and I-35E. The wait staff greeted us warmly. Our rooms were just right to be our "home" for a couple of nights. Free High Speed Internet allowed us to "Google" any potential destinations and get good directions. We checked out the whirlpool which we fully intended to take advantage of later in the evening. We took advantage of a little down time, some napped while others did some reading. Our next venture would be a treat.


Tommie and me had been to a movie at an IMAX theater in Branson, MO. We took in the second Matrix flick. The gigantic screen and the incredible sound were worth the price of admission. The IMAX was just down the street from the hotel. We had two options - Happy Feet or A Night at the Museum.  We opted for Ben Stiller. The  5:15 p.m. show was sold out and it was clear the earlier shows had been. We purchased tickets for the 7:45 p.m. early so we would be sure to see the movie. We waited for about  45 minutes in line and if our chosen time was not sold out it was awfully close. The movie was enjoyable. Everyone thought the IMAX experience a great choice for the evening.

After a long day it was time to relax. I am near certain only a handful of people were at the hotel and the empty whirlpool allowed us free range. The first day of our "Road Trip" proved fun and refreshing.

The water temp was just right!

More on Day 2 coming …

 

Update …

We are finishing up a couple of days in Dallas. I have put together a couple of posts on our "Road Trip." They will be up later today or tomorrow. The pic for my "Friday Photo" was taken in the stairwell of the Dallas Museum of Art. More in the forthcoming posts. For now, if you can make it to Dallas before January 7, there is a fantastic Van Gogh exhibit worth both the drive and the money.

Friday Photo …

Wright on the Word become flesh … An Advent Sermon

Listen, because the incomprehensible Word, the child, speaks to you.
Don’t patronize him; don’t reject him; don’t sentimentalize him. Learn
the language within which he makes sense. And come to the table to
enjoy the breakfast, the breakfast which is he himself, the Word made
flesh, the Life which is our life, our light, our glory.

These words bring to a close an Advent sermon by N.T. Wright found here.

(HT: Michael at the BHT Advent Blog)

Transcendent moments singing “Joy to the World” …

Brian McLaren offers some great thoughts after singing, "Joy to the World."

The Dialectic of Advent … Hiding and Not Hiding …

Eugene Peterson gave a series of lectures at Regent College in 1999 titled, "Eat This Book." The second lecture invites one to consider the link between form and content - the content is in the form. Pressing for an understanding of the Scriptures as narrative, story, Peterson suggests the form invites us to both consider and enter the grand story of God. Thus, the content, a new reality in relationship to the God of the Universe, may be understood and experienced in the form, the story of God in the Scriptures.

I was at once struck by the similarity between what Peterson suggests and how Brian McLaren weaves the same ideas in, The Story We Find Ourselves In. Helping a person see the possibilities requires them to understand their location in the story otherwise, the Scriptures likely devolve into a religious informational book along the lines of an encyclopedia.  Nothing more than drafted moralisms come from such a "controlling" use of the Scriptures. In this way, God hides even in the Scriptures. And, God does not hide in the Scriptures

The Old Testament reading for the Third Sunday in Advent came from
Zephaniah 3. The backdrop to the third chapter left me reflecting on
the meaning of the name "Zephaniah" - "the Lord hides." Jesus told the religious leaders in his day to search the Scriptures for there they think they find life and yet they "testify of me." The Scriptures hid the Messiah. The Scriptures reveal the Messiah.

Ominous descriptions of judgment haunt the first two chapters of Zephaniah. No one escapes the watchful eye of God. He witnesses Jew and Gentile, small and great, rich and poor chasing after all but God. They do not find him in the stars - he is hidden. Yet, they could find him in the stars for he is not hidden.

Our notions of judgment and justice often require visible action. We often refer to images in Scripture for our alertness to judgment. Floods and rainbows remind us of the story of Noah and his family boarding the big boat - Ark. The word plagues conjures images of the Exodus, if not Charlton Heston.

What if we looked at these events through the lens of the form (the name of Zephaniah) and found the content (the Lord hides)? Is it possible the consequences of the curse of sin implies God is actively at work holding back the natural results of rebellion? So, man exerts himself, follows his eagerness to be king, gives into his passions and whims and the results would lead to unending misery and yet God holds the consequences at bay out of his great mercy. At what point would the letting go mean the coming of all those things announced as impending judgment. What if when God hides, judgment comes? What if "the Lord hides" and lets us go our own way? Would the results be a form of judgment? Would it result in the kind of things described by the prophets?

I am not arguing for a new way to read the Scriptures as if to suggest these pronouncements were not exactly what God intended. I am simply left to wonder if there is not a case for the withholding of presence as a means of judgment and if that act could help us anticipate Advent all the more.

If the people would be carted off to Babylon and experience exile, there is little doubt they would sense the "the Lord hides." Any talk of things changing would surely provoke a hopefulness. The fulfillment of the "revealing" of the promise would certainly mean singing, shouting, praising and exulting. Rather than exploiting everything around us for our own benefit we would realize God had been for us though we thought him to be hidden. As we see his work to fulfill his promise we cannot contain the celebration. We cannot let our joy be hidden. In that moment, Zephaniah seems to suggest God will take great pleasure in our excitement.

What will your celebration of Advent bring? Will your joy be hidden?

Honor Your Father and Mother … What would you trade their honor for? …

Walter Wangerin offered  a picture of what it is to honor your parents in a story he told some years ago at the first National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego. I listen to this sermon a couple of times a year. He tells the story of a friend whom he went to see after they had gone their separate ways. I recall him remarking about how bright his friend was but he went back home to care for his parents on their farm.

Mr. Wangerin tells of being awakened in the night by the shrills from his friend’s mother. He rushed down to see what the commotion was about. His friend’s mother was confined to a bed and may have had Alzheimer’s. Mr. Wangerin watched as his friend cared for his mother and sang with her. He described the picture much better than I. He noted well his friend’s actions reflected the sentiment of the charge to "Honor Your Father and Mother."

Some of us were a bit uncomfortable in Greensboro with the life size Billy Graham and the tribute to a man who likely would have had disdain for such a spectacle. Now there is more. It seems a dispute in the family over where to bury Billy and Ruth is under way. When I think of Mr. Wangerin’s picture of honoring one’s parents, I am sure it did not look like this.

(ht:Doug)

Natalie strikes again … Write more when your bored …

Natalie offers some great thoughts here and here.

Great Willimon Piece …

This past Sunday I used part of this Will Willimon piece. The quote I found helpful to describe how we must not neglect intentional means to follow Jesus,

The immediate problem that confronts is that our church is
accommodationist. Even though we know that there is a strong, critical
strain in Wesleyanism against the evils of “riches,” we quickly learned
in this society that there is no way to be a successful, responsible,
public church, without submitting to the political vision that says
that there is no greater purpose of human community than accumulation
and aggrandizement.

For this reason, the “user friendly”
approach to church won’t work. There is no way to entice people off the
streets with hymns that are based on advertising jingles and end up
with the cross-bearing, self-sacrificial, burden-bearing Jesus.
Evangelism cannot be based upon our basic selfishness (“Come to Jesus
and get everything you want fixed.”) and end up with anything
resembling historic Christianity.

One of the reasons why Church
is difficult is that the modern media culture (a culture which has no
other purpose than giving us what we want, since “getting what we want”
is the main purpose of life) has been so successful in forming us into
such consumers.

In the middle of a sermon I said, “If you bring
a child into this church, say a child of four or five, that child will
have a difficult time during the service. Church does not come
naturally. The child will have to be trained to sing this music, to
bend his life toward these stories, to pay attention to that which he
quite naturally avoids. If you take that same child into Toys R Us, no
training is necessary. Greed comes to us quite naturally. After all,
this is America.”

But then I caught myself in mid-sentence, and
said, “No, that’s not quite fair to Toys R Us. Billions have been
spent, and our very best talent expended, in forming that child into
the habits of consumption. Barney is not innocent.”

Our natural tendencies war against those formative features of following Jesus and we must be diligent to resist the clutches of whatever keeps us from faithful following.

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