Sunday, August 28, 2011

The passing of an old friend.

Today had many facets. I had an enjoyable time at River City Church in Chattanooga. They didn't mention hell or sin much, but it was an interesting time none the less. The rest of the day went fairly uneventfully. I hung around with friends, and had dinner with a group of wonderful people. After dinner I practiced in the offing of the chapel until it got to dark to see. When I got online however, I started to see the bad news. A friend posted on his blog about the devastation happening in Vermont, and how many covered bridges were destroyed in the flooding. He mentioned a few I know, and and one very dear to my heart. Today, the covered bridge over the Williams river in Lower Bartonsville collapsed.

I have always loved that bridge. We have had a good long run. From hiding in it as a kid and scaring bikers, to ambushing friends when they crossed it. Besides being the fastest way of getting to I-91 and the rest of the outside world, the bridge stood as a monument to Vermont ingenuity, and all the history of New England. The cover kept the weather off of the road bed, keeping it from rotting. However, in the winter when the travelers used sleighs, people would have to shovel snow onto the bridge so that travelers could pass through. It was also an iconic part of the railroad. the tourist train that ran from Bellows Falls to Chester went right by it, and it featured in many photographs. Sometimes you may have heard covered bridged called kissing bridges. The obvious reason is that when in the bridge no one can see you snogging when going for a ride with your significant other. My parents had a tradition of kissing whenever they passed through it. It was, naturally, accompanied by ews, protestations, and the comment "That's a big fish."*

The bridge holds many memories. As a kid, we would sometimes hide in the walls and scare bikers. One year, our family hosted a viking theme party for a group of homeschoolers. We all dressed up, and dad carried a big viking waraxe. Made of duct tape and cardboard to be sure, but intimidating none the less. As the people came through the bridge, we would jump out and ambush them. One child would stay with us, while the rest traveled on to the party. The only casualty that day was when I got a nasty splinter from either Paul or Isaac's sword in the palm of my hand. I deserved it. Last winter, we had friends over, and again, ambushed them. This time, my agile brother hid up in the rafters, and I waited to stop them. Ben, of course, was the tech guy who brought a laptop into a gunfight. It was a good day.

The bridge and I have had a long run, and I will sorely feel it's departure.

*The kids in my family still don't care much for kissing. Even I think it's gross. When we watch movies, we have a tendency to ignore any displays of affection, particularly when they involve the sharing of copious amounts of saliva. There's a large stuffed animal, that sortof looks like a salmon, and it's about four feet long. At one particular scene, to distract, and amuse, someone pointed out the fish, and said "My, that's a big fish!" Ever since, it's been a family expression used to mean "Avert your eyes, awkward moment passing."

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Every freshman who comes to Covenant College has to take Core: The Christian Mind. For the past few years, they have used Why College Matters to God by Rick Ostrander. In a passage about truth and to what extent the fall effected the mind, Ostrander quoted Richard Lewonton.
"We have a prior commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori [from before] adherence to the material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, the materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door."

This passage has always bugged me. It's a niggling thought that I haven't really worked out yet, but I'm giving it my best shot.
This is somewhat superfluous, but institutions, in the sense of peer review etc., do force people to leave any form of Divine Aid out of any study or argument. Which is what happens when, as a group, you are determined to keep away any form of the supernatural from science. It's man's sinful nature, to gang up on God, particularly the God of Israel, and to try to squelch His message.

That wasn't what bugs me. Ostrander totally misses the point. Or at least I think so, I'm just an ignorant freshman, it will only be next year that I will have earned the title of sophomore, learned fool. As I said, the passages leading up to the quotation speak to the nature of truth and how much the intellect has been corrupted by the fall. The other part was how much you can rely on a non-Christian's perspective, as they aren't in a personal relationship with the Word. Well, both Christians and non-Christians can know truth, though an argument for another time, or right now, would be to what extent. What Lewonton says is true. If you cannot allow a God into your calculation, that is what happens, and that is what has happened. When I read this passage, I had to read it again, and I kept looking for something that wasn't there. I realized that what I was searching for was the refutation of the statement. I was looking for him to say that that is indeed what happens, but praise God, we can see the bigger picture, so we don't have to settle for counterintuitive or mystifying apparati. Then I realized I had skimmed the paragraph leading up to it, and I saw that Lewontin wasn't a Christian at all.

When it comes down to it, both Ostrander and Lewontin missed the point. Ostrander failed to point out that there was an example where truth blazed forth like shining from shook foil. Lewontin missed the bigger picture entirely. In short, the passage surrounding the quotation is much like the central melody section from Gustav Holst's Jupiter. It's gives a great deal to ponder, but it leaves you wanting more.

Friday, August 19, 2011

My First Day on top of the Mountain.


Hello Everyone!
Today is my first day at Covenant College. It's generally agreed that it is wise to visit the campus before signing up and paying lots of money. This is not how I did it. I discovered the college in World, and asked them to send information. they did, and called me as well. Shortly thereafter we got serious about things, I applied and they accepted me.

Thursday morning at 7 am Mom and I rolled out of the driveway. Ok, so it was closer to 7:30, but we made up the time on the highway. We got to the airport in good time, only to discover that Mom, bless her heart, forgot her driver's licence at home. Good news was she has an expired one on her, as well as enough other info that they let her on the plane. We called Dad, who found it, and shipped it down. After a short wait in the terminal, we boarded the plane. The main body of the plane was smaller than a train car, and more cramped. Fortunately, there were no chickens, and we didn't have to jump out of it with only an inflatable raft for protection. Unfortunately, my pen decided to leak in the changing pressure, so I had to get rid of it.

About an hour and a half later we landed in Ohio, and took a 40 minute flight out to Tennessee. So far, everything went pretty much as expected. When Mom went to rent a car, however, her lack of a valid driver's licence prevented her. We discovered that there was a shuttle that would drive us to Chattanooga. From there we took a taxi back to our motel, and southern hospitality being what it is, they offered to drive us up to the college. So we got there nice and early and I got everything sorted out in good time. Every student gets a student ID called a scotscard. I got mine fairly early in the day, when the people were just begging for something to do. A few hour later, there was a long line of students finally getting around to it. Heh heh.

Dad found mom's licence, and shipped it down, when it arrived, mom caught a ride back to the hotel, and then went to the airport to rent a car. She came back around 6 with the stuff we had decided not to ship down. The rest will arrive on Monday.

I got everything sorted out with the work study people and the health lady. She filled my arm with a virus, or something very like it. On Monday, I'll go back and she'll measure how bad it looks.

When they gave us our name cards, I noticed that I had a large nine scrawled across the back. There's a course that everyong takes as a Freshman, called the Core: The Christian Mind. It's a small group of likeminded students. Sort of. My group is about twelve guys and two girls, and a good percentage of the guys are studying Computer Science. The girl is taking Biology, I if you don't know already, am taking Pre-Nursing. But I think I'm going to really like it. For a bunch of guys, they seem really interesting. :-) I've always been the most comfortable around geeks.

The grounds are really lovely, and the buildings are fascinating. Because I'm on the top of a mountain, I have a really beautiful view.