Birds Hate Me

This weekend I was in a canoe that was tipped over by a swan. Not only was I soaking wet, but he struck at me and I lost my glasses and some other stuff. Then, today I was standing on our porch and I felt something warm and wet on my face...

I think they're getting their early revenge for all the pheasants I plan on shooting this Fall.

Is this disproportional?

I just did a quick check and in the Gospels alone, the Kingdom is mentioned over 100 times and heaven (not in conjunction with the Kingdom; eg Kingdom of Heaven) is mentioned under 90 with most verses referring to it as the location of God, and hell is mentioned less than 20.

How many sermons do we hear on the Kingdom? Unfortunately, I think pastors teach on this important reality far less than what is needed. If they did, I think the people of God would live much, much differently and have much different expectations for life now and life in the future.

_________

After thinking about this for a couple of hours I wonder some of the reasons for not enough teaching on the Kingdom are possibly these:
1. A reaction by many conservative pastors to the liberals use of the Kingdom in the late 19th early 20th century.

2. An unbalanced futurist view of the Kingdom by many who would be pre-millennial or dispensational pre-millennial.

3. Not understanding what the New Testament means by "Kingdom" due to not understanding the Older Testament's anticipation of the Kingdom. (the OT and NT are one story!)

4. A pessimistic view of the present and future.

5. A view of Jesus that mostly relegates his role as Redeemer to the realm of saving souls, so Jesus is only understood in the scope of the salvation of man.

6. The idea that the Kingdom is only spiritual and too vague to really "nail down" what it means. (probably related to #3 on my list)

7. Kingdom is misunderstood as Church. Meaning, the Church is the Kingdom so if one teaches on the Church, they are teaching on the Kingdom, instead of what Scripture teaches as the Kingdom being something quite different (AKA Kingdom as God's reign and the Church as a steward or representative of the Kingdom).

That is all I can think of for now.

A New Friend

Probably no more vacation posts coming because we had such poor internet access for the last two weeks, but here's what we got yesterday - a new turtle. She is so cute and hopefully her and Brooks will become good friends. They play well outside, but when they're in the tank together Brooks initiates mating stuff with her and she's not into that right now, so he gets mad and bites her! We're going to try a few things to calm him down by making the tank less "his habitat" and more their habitat and give them contact sessions during the day until they become more friendly in the water. We haven't decided on a name for her yet. Maybe Blondie, Goldie or something similar...

Vacation Day Seven - Thursday July 5

Another great day. We spent a little time at the beach this morning, but it was cloudy, then started to rain, so we left. After showering we went to Assateague Park where a herd of wild horses lives. Seriously, wild horses in Maryland. It was quite a site, especially since there are hundreds of camps sites and areas to fish, rake for clams and catch crabs - all with wild horses around.
Oh, another plus was that we called Jen's parents to spend a couple days with us since they had the time off and they came WITH THE BUNNY! So, we got to hang out with some family and our beautiful bunny who, though a wild cottontail, has been to nine states in her three years of life. And here's a shot of a wild horse who thought it would be a great idea to lick the car window.

Vacation Day Six - Wednesday July 4

Today we celebrated our independence from using eating utensils! Especially when you're in the coastal DE/MD part of the U.S.. I also think this was the first July 4th that I have spent in an environment under 90 degrees. Last year we were in SoCal, but the hot part and every other July 4th I've been in Oklahoma except 2005 when we were in St. Louis. Oh man, it was great to be by the beach and not be hot.

Vacation Day Five - Tuesday July 3

Today, Jen and I achieved lofty plans! We lounged at the beach all day. It's not really hot here; low 80s, high 70s. This means that we can catch more sunlight without worrying about having to be in the water all day. I know, it's rough, really. But do not think that I'm being completely lazy; I've been moving through Ridderbos' The Coming of the Kingdom quite nicely and should finish it by this weekend. After that, I'll finish Positive Shooting by Michael Yardley, and then The Eschatology of the Old Testament by Vos. I think the highlight of our day was watching the movie, The Transformers. We both watched the cartoon when we were kids and I've been excited about this film since I heard it was coming out! We both enjoyed it. It was amazing how realistic the Transformers looked; seemless really. So, Jen's big annoyance in life has come from me making a Transformer transforming noise all the time....at....age...30. Sad. Yes, sad.

Vacation Day Four - Monday July 2

If you want a great burger in the Ocean City, MD/Bethany Beach, DE area, I recommend The Greene Turtle. We ate their Monday night and enjoyed it much. After a day lounging at the Beach, it was nice to get out and find a good place with great food.

Vacation Day Three - Sunday July 1

We worshipped with Christ Church, PCA in Arlington then drove through beautiful, historic Georgetown. After that we left the D.C. area drove through Annapolis and made our way for Bethany Beach, DE.

Once we got to the apartment we're staying at until July 13th, we were greeted by this view, which we plan to enjoy while we're here!