ELM / Painting / Training

Well yesterday I received in the mail the book for our next ELM class.  The book is "Care Of The Soul" by Thomas Moore.  I'm only into Chapter One so far but it promises to be a very interesting book.    Our next class is September 14 and 15, so I've got to get to work on this book though it looks to me like it will be a pretty fast read.

I've also started work on a piece of art to be displayed at this years "Street of Dreams".  It's a large piece measuring 51 x 120 inches.  It's broken up into 10 panels, 8 of which run vertically and two of which are horizontal.

This piece is going to suck up a great deal of my time over the next two weeks as I have to have it installed before the 13th of September.  I've built the panels and today I will mark them as to how they will assemble and pre-drill holes in the two horizontal support panels (which are masonite and wood) then I will be stretching the canvas on the other eight.

Once I'm done I'll post a photo of the piece installed in the home, it's going in a stairwell and it should be pretty impressive on the wall.

I'm still wanting to Blog about the session with Brain McLaren that Gail and I took in last Sunday.  But, I had hoped to re-watch the broadcast and even re-read his book "A New Kind of Christianity" before I commented farther.  Unfortunately, with all that is on my plate right now I'm not going to have time to do that for a while.

I am not a fan of McLaren's, I agree with much of what he says but I very much dislike the way he says it.  He seems to have a major chip on his shoulder when it comes to those that are politically conservative and he shows this over and over and over again in his dialogue.  I highly doubt that he genuinely wants a convergence of the many strands of Christianity, what he actually wants is a conversion of the conservative (more so the conservative politically) to become liberal.  Now I will profess my own frustration with some of my conservative theologically brothers and sisters (as well as my frustration with my liberal politically brothers and sisters) but I will defend to the grave their right to believe and worship as they wish. 

Besides if McLaren is looking for a truly blended church culturally, methodologically, theologically and politically he need look no farther than the "American Baptist Churches".  In my eyes he's simply trying to reinvent the wheel.  Though honestly he's not as he ultimately wants a church cleansed of the conservative stain that he in my opinion carries a great deal of personal baggage towards.

I certainly hope I am misjudging the man but I think he could learn from his disciple Rob Bell who can deliver much the same message and in my eyes doesn't insult or belittle.  I very much enjoy reading and listening to Bell and as I stated they really are delivering the same message.

Once again on a whole other track, this week I went over to visit my friend Brandon over at New Dawn Nutrition.  Brandon has a very sophisticated 'sci-fi' machine to measure your body composition.  So now armed with this information and a bit of consulting with Brandon I have calculated out the target weight I need to hit in order to be at the body composition that I desire before my 53rd birthday.  Eerily the number is one that is very, very familiar to me but one that I have not seen for a good number of years.  The calculation come out that I need to be at a weight right around 162 to 163 lbs.  This is my old competition weight from my powerlifting days, I lifted in the 165 lb weight class but I almost always ended up weighing in on meet days at 162 or 163.  I believe in my last meet I was at 162 1/2 lbs, which is basically where I need to be by November.

I'm confident that I can get to that weight, and honestly my goal is to be there before the 14th of November just in case I discover that I need to drop a couple more pounds.  I really don't want to go too much lower though as I would hate to break into the 150's.  That just sounds horrifyingly light to me.  LOL

I plan to go see Brandon once a month to chart my progress and if you are looking for a good source of nutritional supplements Brandon is the man to see.  He's a truly great person and always friendly and enjoyable to converse with.  Here is a link to his store's two facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/NewDawnNutraceuticals
https://www.facebook.com/NewDawnNutrition

Creath is getting ready to go back to college next week so the house will be a bit more empty.  Maddie is off and running most of the time with her large circle of friends, her boyfriend and her job so for us we're already starting to feel a bit like empty nesters.  It's kind of nice to be honest.  LOL

I hope you're all having a very blessed day and remember to be a blessing in someway to somebody today.

In his Abounding Grace,
Roy

Forgotten Audio Recording of Martin Luther King Jr. found...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10828617

I sure wish Jesse was here to learn about this new discovery.  I'd love to hear the audio but I'm sure it will be a while before we can actually listen to it.

Stephon Tull was looking through dusty old boxes in his father's attic in Chattanooga a few months ago when he stumbled onto something startling: an audio reel labeled, "Dr. King interview, Dec. 21, 1960."

He wasn't sure what he had until he borrowed a friend's reel-to-reel player and listened to the recording of his father interviewing Martin Luther King Jr. for a book project that never came to fruition. In clear audio, King discusses the importance of the civil rights movement, his definition of nonviolence and how a recent trip of his to Africa informed his views. Tull said the recording had been in the attic for years, and he wasn't sure who other than his father may have heard it.

"No words can describe. I couldn't believe it," he told The Associated Press this week in a phone interview from his home in Chattanooga. "I found ... a lost part of history."

Many recordings of King are known to exist among hundreds of thousands of documents related to his life that have been catalogued and archived. But one historian said the newly discovered interview is unusual because there's little audio of King discussing his activities in Africa, while two of King's contemporaries said it's exciting to hear a little-known recording of their friend for the first time.

ELM Class - American Baptist History and Polity

This Thursday/Friday/Saturday we had our class concerning the History and Polity of the American Baptist Churches.  When we have our History & Polity Classes we shift our normal class format from 2 days each for 2 months to a one time 3 day class.  The classes are held annually at the Saint Benedict Catholic Retreat near Schuyler, Nebraska.

http://www.stbenedictcenter.com/

Saint Benedict is a wonderfully serene environment.  I was able over the weekend to spend some time alone in their Adoration Chapel and I have to say I haven't felt so near to the Almighty in a very long time.  This was my second trip to Saint Benedict for an ELM Class, and I think one of these days I will have to take a personal retreat there and just spend some time in prayer and meditation.

Our Baptist class was co-taught by Tom Wiles (Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of North Platte) and David Lundholm (Retired Associate Pastor for the American Baptist of Nebraska).  I thoroughly enjoyed the class, Tom and Dave do a good job of working together in the presentation of their material.  On Friday night I had the good fortune and opportunity to spend some time visiting with both Tom and Dave away from the rest of the retreatants.  I greatly appreciated the insight and advice that I received from both of them that evening.  I am certain I will have the opportunity to pick both of their brains again in the future.  If either of you gentlemen are reading this, I do thank you both for taking the time to visit with me, again it was greatly appreciated.

As far as my reading has been going, I of course had to finish up reading the two books required for the ELM class.  In addition I am reading on the Kindle "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture" by Bart Ehrman, as well as re-reading for the third (and now reading again for the fourth time) time "Love Wins" by Rob Bell.  I absolutely love Rob Bell's book and I would greatly urge everyone to read it.  As for Bart Ehrman's book, this is not one I would recommend to any but the more serious layperson or a member of the clergy.  This book is a great book do not be mistaken, however it is not nearly as readable as Ehrman's book "Misquoting Jesus".  If anyone is interested in reading some of Ehrman's work I suggest "Misquoting Jesus" or "Lost Christianities" before reading "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture".

Today on our way home from Church, Gail and I stopped at 'Half Price Books' to just look around.  Of course it's impossible for either of us to go into a bookstore and not walk out with a book.  Gail found two books she wanted and I found a book that I think I may well find valuable to me in my future in ministry.  It's called "Hating God, the untold story of misotheism" by Bernard Schweizer .  This very well may be a disturbing book to read, but I have little doubt that learning the stories of those who have come to confess a belief in God but who also profess hatred of God will be helpful in dealing with individuals who have come to this same conclusion.  I may well have to dig through Jesse's books and try to find something very uplifting to read after reading this book however as I'm sure it will not be a happy nor fast read.

On another note, when I got home yesterday I went to the gym to get in a workout. My training for my 53rd birthday is going along very well.  In this workout and the one prior my strength has been simply "off the hook".  In this workout I moved up in either weight, reps or both on every movement save one.  That exercise was 'reverse barbell shrugs' and I had made big moves on two other back exercises prior to doing the 'reverse shrugs', so I wasn't disappointed at all.  Lately my back has been responding very well and it's a genuine rush training back anymore.  I've let my body weight inch up a bit lately and of course this is helpful strength wise as well as for endurance.  I'll have to get serious on my diet this week however as I'd like to be about 15lbs lighter than I am right now come November.  I don't want to cut too fast and lose muscle mass so unfortunately I can't wait too much longer before I start limiting my carbohydrate intake and doing some more cardio.

As always thank you all for reading and please remember to "BE THE BLESSING".

God's Love and Grace to you all,
Roy

I love these guys...

This weekend I will be going off to attend our American Baptist History and Polity Class.  I'll be back to report on that once I'm back but in the meanwhile here are some videos from a group I stumbled onto the other day.  I just love this music!!  She has such a soulful voice I just love it!

Please enjoy!

Roy