The Pope's speech

If you've read about the controversy over the Pope's speech you may want to check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5348456.stm where excerpts from the speech are reproduced, and there is a link to the whole speech. I only read the excerpts, but it actually appears that the Pope partially refuted the quote of emperor Paleologus that seems to have caused all the controversy - the one about Mohammed bringing "things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

If you read down through the rest of the excerpts, it sounds like he's trying to contradict Paleologus' simple assertion that "not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature." Essentially, the Pope seems to have said that our western concept of reason is too limited to effectively engage deeply religious cultures, and so we need to find a better way of talking about what God wants.

anyway, thought some of you might like to know where to find more of the story than the media's summaries & interpretation.

Youth ministry oil jar

God just really seems to be blessing our youth finances these days. Everything always ends up costing less than i initially thought it would, and sometimes it seems like i just can't go broke. Thanks God!

Imputedly rightous dishes

It's been a lot easier for me to visualise the difference between imputed and imparted righteousness since i've had a dishwasher. The ones that get clean have imparted righteousness, and the ones that aren't really clean but i really don't want to re-wash are declared righteous and put in the cupboard anyway.

Of course, in this analogy, my mother would be the Holy Spirit. She came to visit recently and did some dishes by hand, and i didn't even check them before i put them away.

Done!

I have finally completed my capstone project for my master's degree! This is a huge praise and a huge weight off my mind. Now that i'm done, maybe i'll finally get to start cooking and cleaning like a housewife should :) Its amazing, i was worried it wouldn't be done on time, and i got pretty behind on it, but i finally got it done right at the deadline. It seems i'm incapable of getting anything done unless i believe it needs to be done and i believe it needs to be done now. I can never seem to get anything done early. Oh well - i guess that's why we have deadlines.

Now i get to turn my attention to training our puppy (which i'll have to blog about sometime - he's adorable and teaching me a lot), reading books, and re-learning the guitar. Anybody know any good books for using the acoustic in Church?

P.S. It really wouldn't be fair not to thank my dad, who set me an example by getting his master's years ago, or my husband, who has been incredibly gracious through this process.