Kids These Days

*RING-RING RING-RING RING-RING-RINGRINGRINGRING*

So I open up the door to see this kid whose "costume" consists of a black beanie and finger-less gloves.

Kid: Trick or treat.
Me: You don't even have a bag?
Kid: No.

I give him a handful of candy, which he promptly shoves into his pockets. He mutters a thanks as he rushes off to the next house.

C'mon guys, at least pretend like you're trying.

Israeli Photos

Finally got around to uploading some Israel stuff into Flickr. Have a look, why don't you? I gotta go do some exegesis now. Good bye!

Overlooking the Galilee

Not a huge fan of how Flickr handles color when it uploads. Oh well.

We hit Galilee about mid-trip. Almost got knocked over by the wind on top of this mountain while taking this shot. Gorgeous place, though. A lot more pristine and less... uh... shrine-y... than Jerusalem.

Getting up the mountain was easy. Buses tend to do that. Getting down, on the other hand...

Cinders -- A Piggy After My Own Heart

BBC News -- mud-phobia pig gets its own boots

Yeah, I said I'd blog about Israel. But I'm a laggy lagger who's lagging in summer school. But I will leave you with this:

Israel Lesson of the Day: Jews don't eat pigs.

Back from Israel

Yeah, it's been a while. My bad. But I just got back from a trip to the Promised Land, so I figured an update would be in order, what with the fact that it's kind of an extraordinary life event. Plus I have photos. Everyone loves photos.

But in short, our trip to Israel this past month was absolutely amazing. Traveling and learning with the IBEX group from Master's opened our eyes to aspects of the biblical narratives that we had never experienced before. It dropped us in the middle of history's staging ground, stripping away yet another veil that stood between our minds and the text of Scripture. And it gave me a deeper appreciation for the Lord's masterful hand in shaping and forming a land that all but requires radical faith to survive.

Sorry for the lack of specific insights at the moment, but I'm smack in the middle of summer school, trying to get over a cold, with over 2,500 Israel photos to sort through. The only thing I've managed to do so far is go through and tag all the pictures I took of drinks. And McDonald's Apple Pies. Which they deep fry in Israel. To make them kill you faster.

I'll leave y'all with this photo of the effects of hiking in Israel. These shoes used to be black.


Gross.