Stalwart of the Faith

This has been challenging me in my reason, thinking, and heart toward people/ the nature of friendship:

"The First [Friend] is the alter ego, the man who first reveals to you that you are not alone in the world by turning out (beyond hope) to share all your most secret delights. There is nothing to be overcome in making him your friend; he and you join like raindrops on a window. But the Second Friend is the man who disagrees with you about everything... Of course he shares your interests; otherwise he would not become your friend at all. But he has approached them all at a different angle. he has read all the right books but has got the wrong thing out of every one... How can he be so nearly right, and yet, invariably, just not right? He is as fascinating (and infuriating) as a woman." C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

american boys

started reading some thoreau

They mistake who assert that the Yankee has few amusements, because he has not so many public holidays, and men and boys do not play so many games as they do in England, for here the more primitive but solitary amusements of hunting, fishing, and the like have not yet given place to the former. Almost every New England boy among my contemporaries shouldered a fowling-piece between the ages of ten and fourteen; and his hunting and fishing grounds were not limited, like the preserves of an English nobleman, but were more boundless even than those of a savage. No wonder, then, that he did not oftener stay to play on the common. But already a change is taking place, owing, not to an increased humanity, but to an increased scarcity of game, for perhaps the hunter is the greatest friend of the animals hunted, not excepting the Humane Society.

Housing market

I saw this article on Yahoo today and it reminded me a lot of what we were talking about the other day with health insurance, tax system/ incentive system, ect. It's an article about Detroit's housing market (or lack thereof):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091025/us_nm/us_usa_housing_detroit

I hope that these things press us toward Life, Peace, and justice.

Stalwart of the Faith

"My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them, or indisposed me to serve them; nor in spite of failures, which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge; or of the present aspect of affairs; do I despair of the future.
The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow, and our desires so impatient; the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope."

-Robert E. Lee, 1870 (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_E_Lee)

nico is a wild man

this is what nico did with dish and me without ever jumping at the quarry before. we thought he died.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgfiqhuJOP8&feature=geosearch

VT Rugby

Hey fellas,

I read today that Virginia Tech's rugby program has been suspended for hazing/ other things that happened during a party on campus. I hope that this occurs to the Glory of the Father. Please just ask for this to be done in the lives of the players and coaches of this squad, some of whom I played with during my time on the pitch and some of whom I'm sure you guys know.

Living Redeemed,

Ryan

http://www.vtrugby.com

http://www.americanrugbynews.com/artman/publish/college/Va_Tech_program_suspended.shtml

Stalwart of the Faith

This is what I'm doing this weekend. :

www.beijing-marathon.com

"He ran that day, everyone said, like a man inspired. But, in fact, he should never have won a race at all. Modern coaches would have been appalled at his running style. It was like his public speaking-- poor. . . "Liddle had a curious action, swinging his arms very high, bringing his knees well up, and throwing his head well back," said his competitor Innes Stewart. . . But that extraordinary style propelled him towards the finishing tape faster than anyone else in the world. And the exhilaration on his face as he ran! The exultation on his face as he threw back his head!

A fascinating insight into the style comes from Ian Charleston, the actor who plays Eric Liddell in the film, Chariots of Fire. . ."I suddenly realized--Liddell must have run like that. He must have run with his head up and literally trusted to go there. He ran with faith. He didn't even look where he was going. So I can see how that would have given him a lot of extra push in a way. He just let go, completely relaxed."

Sally Magnusson's The Flying Scotsman: A Biography of Eric Liddell, page 37.

definitions

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whoppa%20head

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=WHOPPADONK

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whoppa




Public Disclaimer: These have nothing to do with what we are discussing. We did not create these definitions.

something i think is important

I have been reading some political and economic stuff this weekend and wanted to share this link with you from Forbes Magazine.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1005/taxes-financial-aid-college-roughing-up-middle-class.html

This stuff makes me mad.

Keep living free in Him yall.

Wheeler

"Stalwarts of the Faith"

The Cambridge Seven.

These guys really impressed me with the way that they seem so ready to lay it all down. Obviously, the China connection is there, but that is insignificant when viewed from the simple fact that they are our brothers:

"When these seven young men yielded their lives to [Him], they didn't runaway to a cave and become monks. They didn't shut their mouths and become quietly self-righteous. Instead, they continued to struggle and grow in love for [Him] and for others. They made the most of their situations for the sake of telling others about their [brother, Father, and friend], even though their individual positions meant nothing to them because of the joy and meaning they had in [Him].

("Report on 'The Cambridge Seven'")

I really benefited from reading through their biographies on this link. I mean...they're just a bunch of Whoppaheads being Whoppaheads.

-R.L. Betwy of "The Whoppahead Seven" (eight, nine, ten...)

This week's "Stalwart of the Faith"

I got an e-mail from Steve Rawls today. He said a lot of things, but here's part of his update letter:

"... As we sat in the back room of the local coffee shop, I could feel
the excitement in our leaders. The new year was upon us. We were
, for the first time this year, meeting together as a team. Our
high school team consists of three guys and three girls. Myself,
Mike (a teacher who is in his 19th year leading in the area),
and Clarke - a full-of-life sophomore at W&L. Our girls (Jill,
Allison ad Crystal) are all juniors - entering into their second
year of walking with kids. We began to sit and talk through this
coming up year. It was exciting."

I'm sure that I have a lot of passions in my life and want to do a lot of things, but when I read about homeboy Mike, the teacher, who's been at it for almost two decades, I kind of just felt like I knew/ affirmed what I already know and am walking in with my life...that is "He who is my life." Okay, cheers boys!