Grateful to Still Be Alive

We were in an accident on our way to the Greek festival at St. Anne's in Corvallis late this afternoon. Thank God we all are still alive. We were driving up Highway 99 past Junction City when somebody drove head-on into our lane. Steve swerved, did a 180, miraculously managed to just slip by the telephone poll, but then we hit gravel and flipped.

We were suspended upside down by our seat belts--thank God for them, otherwise we'd be fertilizer in that field. Joanna got out first, shaken but physically okay. Then Steve managed to break free; but I couldn't figure out how to get my seat belt off. Somebody clicked it and I fell down, but in the process the headrest moved and I got hit in the head with the tire iron which apparently had been thrown on top of it.

Steve's 4-Runner is history. Absolutely totalled. Really, it was a miracle we weren't hurt worse. David Yu rescued us and brought us home, where we rested a bit and sized things up. Steve's shoulder was hurting more and more so I insisted on driving us to Sacred Heart's ER. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long to be admitted.

Steve's left shoulder is badly sprained, and he can't move his left arm more than halfway up. They've told him to ice it, and to expect it to feel worse tomorrow and Monday. I've got a nice goose egg and a blue welt under my arm and across part of my chest from the seat belt, probably both the impact and then being suspended. They've given us both Vicodin; but I don't want to take it unless I absolutely can't function, and Steve says he doubt it will do much for him, as he is pretty resistant to opiates. He intends to preach tomorrow morning.

This year, we all got a present for Steve's birthday: life. Thank God!

Good news for Susan!

Susan has been accepted into Massey College at the University of Toronto! We are so pleased for her. It's the nearest thing she can get to reduplicating her Best Semester experience at Oxford... ; )

Massey College is an academic home for 60 of the University of Toronto's graduate and professional students, called Resident Junior Fellows, and another 60 to 70 non-resident Junior Fellows. Resident junior fellows can live in college for up to three years, and then become non-resident junior fellows for a further two years. In addition, the College hosts visiting academics, generally on sabbatical leave, who are called Senior Residents...

The college also strives to preserve an Oxbridge-type atmosphere by mandating the wearing of gowns at dinner, and incorporating regular High Tables — complete with after-dinner snuff — into its schedule; and balances this with very active outreach programs. The mandated goal of the college is to demonstrate through its corporate life the interconnectness between all learning. The College has been referred to as the All Souls of Canada. (Wikipedia)



We are concerned, however, about the snuff, and hope that Susan will be able to adjust to the orange floors and blankets.

Grateful...

I am

• grateful for the sucessful VCC youth garage sale a week ago yesterday, which net us over $2500. This will help the CHIC budget


• grateful for the Alaska Christian College team that was with us this weekend, and the work that God is doing through ACC in their lives


• grateful for another good Worship in the Park and Potluck


• grateful for Joanna's good SAT results


• grateful for her induction into Honor Society last Thursday.


• grateful for the chance to teach the online Inter Disciplinary Studies class, "Ideas matter: Engaging World Thought and Culture"


• grateful to be able to partner with a woman seeking faith in Christ, as we cleaned the church together Friday


• grateful to be hosting the VCC reading group this Friday night, for "The Great Gatsby"


• grateful for the incredible cool weather and bright sunshine

But I am also exhausted. So much still to do...blogging is going to have to take a back burner for a while.

"No gift is free"

My friend wrote: "Nothing good comes easy or free. No gift is free. Does even agape carry obligations?"

I'd like to address this statement with two separate entries. This one will consider the idea, "No gift is free." Doesn't it depend on what you mean by "free?" If it means "no attachment," then it is impossible for any gift to be free, because gift-giving presumes some sort of relationship, no matter how tenuous. There must be a giver, a gift, and a receiver.

But if "free" describes an action performed by an agent who could have chosen to do otherwise, then a gift can be free, because the giver could have chosen not to give it, and the recipient could have chosen not to receive it.

If we were all discrete, independent atomic units, determined by laws of cause and effect, then gift-giving would be impossible, because there would not be any real relationships within which to give and receive; such transactions would be inevitable. If the fitting response for receiving a gift is gratitude, it seems strange to speak of thanksgiving being inevitable.

If we were all discrete independent atomic units, randomly banging into each other across time and space, gift-giving would be impossible, because there would not be any real relationships that lasted long enough for there to be a "giver" and a "receiver." We would not be able to identify the giver, or even the gift, and again, the experience of thanksgiving would be incoherent.

But if we are beings that can choose to enter into real relationships with one another, and choose to begin them or continue them or seal them with gifts, then we can speak of gifts as being free or not.

It is possible to speak of gifting in terms of obligation, if the relationship exists in order to promote/perpetuate the power or position of the giver over receiver. That is, by accepting the gift, the recipient is in some way bound by the giver so that the recipient cannot (or should not) act against the giver. But this is a tragic understanding of gifting. Some people think that all relationships must be construed in terms of oppressors and victims, and indeed, in this fallen world, almost all relationships exhibit this twisting at some point or other. But is it the only way ?

As Christians, we believe that that is not the way God acts, because God is love. We believe that He gave us the greatest gift of all--Himself, in Jesus Christ; not to promote His own power or position, but to lift us from sin into His own life. We believe that the more we catch His vision (that is, catch the Vision of Him) the less we will operate out of obligation or power and the more we will operate out of His truth, beauty and goodness.

We believe that some people (who could have done otherwise) choose to reject that gift. There are consequences either way, (cf. Luke 14) but consequences and obligations are two different things.

Thanksgiving Greetings, with cupcakes

Col. 1:2-3

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you!


via Brad, 50 Thanksgiving cupcake ideas