language matters

As Beijing gears up for the Olympics in just a couple of weeks, I’m sure there are matters much more significant than the translation of Chinese menus into English.  Still, I loved this NPR story on Beijing’s attempts toward improvement.  (Hearing some of these translation faux-pas’ reminded me of my travel in China a couple of years ago.  I LOVED stopping to read museum signs and posted public articles because I often found the translations laughable.  (Can you imagine sitting down at the neighborhood cafe to decide between pee soup, saliva  (i.e. mouthwatering) chicken, or succulant, mouthwatering crap (–not carp or crab)?

And you thought your Spanish teacher was too picky!  (I’ve got a feeling Chinese English students aren’t getting away with sloppy work; in spite of translation-trouble here and there, they no-doubt put to shame our meager [American] attempts at language-acquisition.)

Even so, you can bet I’ll be keeping one eye glued to the street corner (signs) as athletes & journalists keep us in touch with this summer’s games!

suffering, kingdom, and patient endurance

When the Apostle John wrote to seven churches in the province of Asia, he identified himself as “brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus” (Rev. 1:9a).  That seems about right.

i picked blueberries today

(Isn’t that really all that needs to be said?!)

n.t. wright is shattering my paradigms

I know it’s getting ridiculous that I’m regurgitating (verbatim) phrases, paragraphs, and (let’s face it) near-entire chapters from Wright’s latest book, Surprised by Hope. It’s only that I’m wanting to fully digest and (then) gain health from such important nutrients. (The metaphor seems none too strong, as I find myself badly malnourished regarding [what I'm coming to believe is] true Christian hope.)

So for my very own sake …

But when we reintegrate what should never have been separated–the kingdom-inaugurating public work of Jesus and his redemptive death and resurrection—we find that the gospels tell a different story. It isn’t just a story of some splendid and exciting social work with an unhappy conclusion. Nor is it just a story of an atoning death with an extended introduction. It is something much bigger than the sum of those two diminished perspectives. It is the story of God’s kingdom being launched on earth as in heaven, generating a new state of affairs in which the power of evil has been decisively defeated, the new creation has been decisively launched, and Jesus’s followers have been commissioned and equipped to put that victory and that inaugurated new world into practice. Atonement, redemption, and salvation are what happen on the way because engaging in this work demands that people themselves be rescued from the powers that enslave the world in order that they can in turn be rescuers. To put it another way, if you want to help inaugurate God’s kingdom, you must follow in the way of the cross, and if you want to benefit from Jesus’s saving death, you must become part of his kingdom project. There is only one Jesus, only one gospel story, albeit told in four kaleidoscopic patterns. Heaven’s rule, God’s rule, is thus to be put into practice in the world, resulting in salvation in both the present and the future, a salvation that is both for humans and through saved humans, for the wider world. This is the solid basis for the mission of the church.

–N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

i came by it honestly

The thingsyoungerthanmccain website that is.  (Trust me: it was a mere blip on the radar in an otherwise thoughtful discussion about the upcoming presidential race.)

But sometimes even substantive dialogue must take a back seat to things that are, well — funny.  (One of my favs: penicillin.  I mean, haven’t you always just sort of believed that’s been around forever?  Oh wait, it has.)

sardoodledom

Have we all already laughed ourselves silly over this one?  (Try this link, if you’re having trouble viewing the video below.)

time-saver?

The following was sent to me by my good (now better) friend, Jen.  She’s probably heard me whine about my cat allergies (and general distaste for the feline-breed) one too many times over the past two weeks!

This was simply too much of a time saver not to share it with you:
1.  Put both lids of the toilet up … and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.
2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid.  (You may need to stand on the lid.)
4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds.  Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times; this provides a ‘power-wash’ and rinse’.
6. Have someone open the front door of your home.  (Be sure no one is in between the bathroom and the front door.)
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift the lid.
8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry off.
9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Sincerely,
The Dog

e-mail, snail-mail … message in a bottle?

Maybe.  (As long as you’ve got — oh — 20 years or so.)  Check it out.

lotta life today

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

–John Lennon

barry manilow’s two blocks away …

Playing at the Sprint Center tonite and - I confess (as I put on my pj’s and prep for a serenade while I sleep) - I’ve turned a full one-eighty in my feelings about the upcoming move.  I’ve been thinking (while listening to Barry sing) … maybe creating a little distance between me & downtown isn’t such a bad idea afterall. 

(Sorry to offend any die-hard-Barry-Manilow-fans; it’s becoming clear to me: I just can’t pretend.)

Is Barry a song-writing legend?  I guess.  Is he an American music icon?  I suppose.  Is he someone I can hear singing two blocks away without cringing?  Apparently not.

Packing (with a smile) …