Red Letters

Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the gentle/meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

This is clearly a temporal blessing. The meek - or as the NASB has it, gentle - will be blessed with dominion over earth, despite their violent counterparts who strive for it.
The meek are poster children for Christ’s program of humility and kenosis, and will be first instead of last, which would be their rank in a rat-race world.
***

Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”


In the U.S. we rarely experience hunger the way it was experienced in occupied Judea by a significant percentage of the population at least occasionally. The constant, subtle desire for food experienced when fasting should be present in the spirit as well. Hungering for righteousness in one’s own life, in the church, and in the public square is in tune with the heart of God, who desires holiness in the innermost place.
When we hunger and thirst for righteousness we become vulnerable by relying on it as we rely on food and water. However, God promises to fill that desire and reward our vulnerability.
***

Matthew 5:7
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”


The only directly reciprocal beatitude, those who show mercy to others will receive mercy from God. The oft-ignored lecture accompanying the Lord’s Prayer details the same principle, though in the negative. Those who are merciless will not be shown mercy. Forgiving, understanding, and bearing with others guarantees that our sins will be forgiven, difficulties understood, and inadequacies borne with.

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!

The national unity government headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon collapsed in ruins yesterday evening when the Labor party leader stood by his threat to vote against the 2003 budget, and then led his coalition team into opposition. Thanks to Haaretz for their (obviously) extensive coverage of the fallout and its implications. Sharon's still trying to cobble together a right-center coalition, but hopefully we'll get a new leader in January (start shining those campaign shoes, Benjy). And hopefully Arafat will expire soon... as far as I can tell, he must be past his expiration date, because he's been rotten for some time now. To peace!

We're LIARS!

Thanks to Ali Baba for dropping me a note on the mistruths dispensed by NU's brilliant profs, notably Jack Levin, who was quoted frequently on the sniper matter. MSNBC quotes him.

Even after the suspects turned out not to be an angry man in a white van, but two black men in a blue Chevy, a host of profilers, lawyers and “security experts” remained shameless. “My predictions were not that close,” Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University, told the New York Times. “But the average American was hungry for information. And when there isn’t real news, people make up their own. People wanted a story of who this guy was. What we did, by providing it, comforted them.”

Speaking of Ali Baba... check this out.

We're Number ONE!

It's better than PepsiONE: Northeastern University was ranked first by U.S. News & World Report in the "coops and internships" list. Hey, if you do one thing, do it well. And I'm proud to be a part of that top-ranked program. Who says NU has no school spirit?

By the way, we're also 15th ranked (before our loss to William & Mary, anyway) in the NCAA Division I-AA. Not bad at all.

Too Little, Too Late

The Patriots fell behind early, and couldn't do a thing against the Bronco's secondary. Antowain Smith showed flashes, but couldn't consistently rush for enough yardage to break up their defense. And our offensive line didn't quite have it either. Oh, and the punter was instrumental in one Denver touchdown. Of course, their kicker missed a couple of shots, and we won the turnover battle (which is the only reason we were still within 8 points).

Next week's game against Buffalo is a must-win; we've got to establish that we're better than the Bills before we can take on Miami. After that, we've got a stretch of 7 games where the only one we could justifiably lose would be against Oakland. If we can beat Buffalo twice, and win against all but Oakland, then we'll go into Miami at 10-5; they'll likely lose at Green Bay and split with San Diego and Oakland. That would leave them 11-4 going into the last game; at Gillette Stadium (can we nickname it "The Razor" or something?) on December 29. And, all things being equal, I'd have to pick the Dolphins: they've got a much better running game, and unless we get some of our mojo back between now and then, we're as flat as the Red Sox.

Russia is still Russia

They may be more democratic, capitalist, and corrupt than they used to be, but they're still Russians, and don't you forget it. If the Chechen theatre hold-up had happened in the U.S., it could have crippled us. Not so for Russia, who can off 115 civilians now and then when they really need to. It's not "nice", but it's much more effective, and renders a lot of the terrorist playbook obsolete. By gassing the theatre and then going in and starting a minor bloodbath, the Russians quenched any Chechen hopes of blackmailing Russia into negotiations. Quite honestly, this only makes me love Putin more. He's not a dyed-in-the-wool democrat, but he's certainly the strong leader that Russia needs. If he can leave office peacefully and democratically, it'll be a big victory for stability in the world's #2 nuclear power: and that counts for a lot in my book!

God Rest His Soul

IR's sympathies are with the family and friends of Senator Wellstone, his wife, daughter, and two others who died in a Minnesota small plane crash. Our sympathies are also with whomever the Democrats choose to replace him in Minnesota's close race.

Wellstone broke his 1990 promise to only serve two turns by running for a third. Apparently forces stronger than he decided that was not to be. Let dishonest politicians beware.

Exhale

They caught the murderers. Now the only debate is who can get them into an electric chair faster. Which I think is absolutely disgusting. OK, the guys deserve to die if they did this. That doesn't mean you have to be happy to kill them... I'd rather see them put in prison to be picked on for the rest of their lives.

Both

As I'm sure you know (right?) the U.S. invaded the Caribbean country of Grenada in 1983; we didn't like their non-aligned new leader (who put an end to corruption, etc), so he swung left and got help from Cuba. We invaded in '83, and lost 42 soldiers, while killing 70 Cubans and 170 Grenadiens. (Be warned: this is all setup for a tasteless joke). Of those casualties, 18 occurred when we mistakenly bombed the island's only mental hospital. I can just picture the inmates... "Am I crazy, or are the Americans bombing us?!?!"

Chechens Hit Russia Where it Hurts

In a major global crisis - much more important than our sniper situation - fifty armed Chechen rebels have Russia in a headlock. They went into a theatre full of Russians. Instead of seeing the hit show "Nord-Ost", the saw Chechens - men and women - come out on stage and hold the place up. The rebels have released about 100 women and children, but threaten to kill the rest if attacked by Russian troops, and say they won't leave unless Russia withdraws from Chechnya. The problem is not just that this situation is hard to diffuse, which it is, though not impossible. It could also spark a wave of non-confidence in US ally Vladimir Putin and pave the way for hard-liners or isolationists to take power. It's a major victory for Islamist terrorist groups, who may imitate this sort of thing elsewhere if it works well. While I sympathize with Chechnya, and I wish Russia would pull out, the fact is that Chechen rebels are closely aligned with al-Qaeda et al, and creating a chaotic, Russian-free zone in the Caucusus would be asking terrorists to move their bases there. So best of luck to the Moscow police!

Oil

People always talk about the Iraq war being about oil. Sorry, kids, that argument is 10 years old. Sure the Second Gulf War (1990-91) was about oil; as well as about statehood, stability, etc. But that's not the case of the possible Third Gulf War; if we were desperate for cheap oil (which we're not right now) we would talk with Saddam, get him to put on a good show for our inspectors and make some token apologies. Then we would declare him clean and get his oil pumping again. Simple.

However, that's not the case. I won't make the case for this or that motivation on Bush's part, but suffice it to say it's not oil. This piece was inspired by England's Sword's latest piece, which is along a similar vein. Also check out the Nobel committee's connections to the robust Norwegian oil industry.

Number Thirteen

I think it's thirteen anyway; I'm starting to lose count. Geez, talk about brutal; this guy is following trends, and playing the D.C. populace like so many sheep. Just when we all start guessing that he's gone south and the aerial surveillance has deterred him... bam, he's back in Aspen Hill, near where he started. I don't know if I'll be able to make it to home group tonight; I ride/drive right through the intersection where the shooting happened. And I know the look of it well enough to know that it would be a piece of cake to hide in the abundant woods there and take a pot shot at someone. Fortunately, this fellow's not dead, at least not yet. This marks the second string of two shootings in a row where the victim hasn't died. And it marks a new birth of fear in my area, where we thought we'd had our fill of killings. No such luck, and until he's caught, a lot of people are going to be very on edge.

John Brown's Body Lies a-Smouldering In His Grave...

I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this before, but archaeologists recently identified a box that is identified as carrying the bones of "James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus". That's pretty amazing, if you ask me; we can be reasonably sure that we still have the physical remains of the first leader of the church, as well as archaeological evidence of Jesus' life.

Potomac Dip

On the way home from a beer 'n' pot 'n' croquet aging hippy campout in Northern Virginia we crossed the Potomac at historic White's Ferry. Well, my family did anyway, in their car. I didn't go with them... I swam instead. It was about a quarter mile swim, in 57 F water (which is a lot chillier than it sounds), and virtually no current, except for the last few meters. These annoying gits with an outboard stopped to ask me if I was OK about 3/4 of the way across, and when I said that I was, they hung around to point out how stupid I was to be swimming the Potomac in October, etc, etc. So anyway, since none of you were there to see me, I thought it would be advantageous to brag about it.

P.S. Of the three party elements mentioned above, the only one in which I took part was the croquet. I've never met a stranger group of people, but a croquet club made up of ex-hippies does indeed exist. I hung out with their kids while they got drunk/high/won at croquet.

Arrest

Police just took somebody into custody near where the last shooting was. We're praying that this is over. It hasn't been terror the last few days... just an uneasiness and edginess all around D.C.

Brady Comes Up Big

Brady threw two touchdown passes in a clutch win over one of our top rivals. We trailed 10-14 with 10 seconds to go and Brady fired a 20-yard pass to Cory Parks in the endzone.

Walking Into A Crowded Room And Pulling Down Your Pants

...is the only comparison I can come up with for North Korea's Jerry-Springeresque admission that they've been cheating on the U.S. for years and developing nukes. Everybody and his great-aunt Harriet are quoted in the Times article guessing why the reclusive communist state decided to tell, after vehemently denying U.S. accusations to that effect the day before. Apparently the North Korean administration decided to let it all hang out after an all-night meeting last week. The U.S. administration (amazingly) kept it secret for about a week before announcing the admission. That's a good thing: it means they were able to decide sans punditry. I like Bush's foreign policy team, I really do.

Some possible explanations for the admission:
- They thought we'd find out anyway, and they could score more points by telling first.
- They're bluffing. Is this even a possibility?? I don't know.
- They're peeing their pants watching what's about to happen to their fellow "axis of evil" member, Saddam.
- They honestly want to reenter civilization, and this had to happen sometime.
- They have good enough nukes to be able to face up to the U.S.
- Who knows what goes through Kim Jong Il's twisted mind!?!

As the Post quotes, The admission "represented a candor on the part of North Korean officials that we are unaccustomed to," the official said. "It has promise. It has opportunity. It has dangers."

Long Weekend

I spent Columbus Day weekend driving up and down I-95 and its derivatives.

David wanted me to tell you that.

Naw, that's mean. I had a great weekend, visited family and friends in Boston. My bro Zack, who couldn't plan a trip to the bathroom if it involved thinking ahead (but is otherwise a great guy), was kept under constant pressure to make sure he didn't double book. And he didn't. No, indeed, the night came when we were to prepare to leave the next morning. And he told his parents that we were going away for the weekend. Oops; his dad wanted him home to help on the house. So it was just Derrick and I.

It was fun being home, my family's doing very well, and my friends are as well (at least, the ones that I saw). The ones that I couldn't see, I'm sorry. And the ones that didn't return my email(s)...?? I don't know. I had difficulties with my mother within 2 hours of getting home. Some proverbial things never change. And she is a very good cook; she could hold her own against my French chefs on main dishes and presentation, if not on hors d'ouevres or wines. Desserts are a toss-up.

Props to Dubya for organizing a big praise night that came off very well. Props to JJ for joining BC's rugby "B" team. Props to Steve for remaining his hilariously simple self. (Steve on praying to the Virgin Mary: "That's like asking Michael Jordan's mother to teach your how to play basketball.") Props to Stacy, Matt, and Mel for making the trip down and managing to muddle their way, albeit circuitously, to the Hills'. No props for Mark Canney - he got lost driving within 3 blocks of the house, turned around and drove back to New Hampshire!

Factoid

Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan are the only two countries in the world that are doubly landlocked. That is, they don't border a country that borders an ocean (the Caspian Sea and Lake Geneva apparently don't make the cut).

Rushing, Passing, and Blogging

Ricky Williams, Miami standout, has mastered the fundamentals of football.

It's not a pretty sight, but his blog sure does a lot to relate to fandom on a personal level. A lot of athletes, as Bambino's Curse points out, could benefit by opening blogs. You know I'd be a religious reader of "Pedro Ponders", if it existed.

Number Eleven

This one occurred in front of a Home Depot, in the same strip mall as a Michael's Craft Store. Witnesses apparently saw the shooter get out of his car, aim, and fire across the highway, before getting back in and speeding away. The media is being good and not saying all they know. The worst part? The victim's husband was standing next to her.

Number Ten

Eleven shots, eight dead, two wounded. This guy has deadly efficiency. And a full time job: all the murders have taken place outside of work hours, except for one or two that first awful morning. Our office has agreed that whoever's doing it isn't quite insane, and is likely trained in police or military work, since he seems to be a good two steps ahead of anyone who wants to catch him.

This morning's was a man at a gas station in Massaponax, a few miles south of Fredericksburg.

Click your heels together three times...

For those of you who don't know, I'll be visiting home this weekend. My wish list is:
1) Quick, safe drives both ways.
2) Patriots beat the Packers.
3) I see all my friends who I'm planning on seeing.
4) I don't act like a total moron.

To Arms, Ye Sons of Freedom!

Moving the nation closer to a possible second war with Iraq, 77 of 100 senators and 296 of 435 House members voted to authorize the president to "use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq."

We're that much closer. Bush can now go out to the world with a pretty secure back, seeking allies in a highly questionable war. Will somebody please knock off Saddam ASAP to spare Iraq the misery... and to spare the US the possible terrorist retaliation! He has to go - otherwise they'll know the US has no teeth. But there were dozens of better ways in the past. We can thank Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton for this mess - Dubya's just playing with the cards he was dealt. So assassinate Saddam, because the cost of one bullet...

Are you a Hawk? Click here.
A Dove? Then here.
A Democrat? Then realize your party has not only shot itself in the foot, it has blown its left leg off.

Noble Nobel

Jimmy Carter, a very worthy candidate, was announced as the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was a big deal around Peace Corps HQ this week... because we were nominated! Of course, so were 38 other groups and some 130 individuals. But it was still an honor, and we had hoped we had a chance. CNN called twice, wanting a few words, and wanting to know whom they could call at 5:00am this morning should we have won.

The choice of Carter was intended to vindicate peaceful means of conflict resolution - and to condemn Bush's proposed war on Iraq. I guess that's what you have to expect when a bunch of Scandinavians get to decide who gets the honors (and the $1 million).

Number Nine

Death revisited a site with which it has great familiarity: the Manassas battlefield. Not technically within the park, this shooting occurred on ground that was nonetheless part of the field of two Civil War battles.

If a link is established, it apparently will be the ninth time a person was struck down by a shot fired from a distance, the eighth shooting in a heavily trafficked shopping area, the third at a gas station and the third within a few hundred yards of a major highway interchange. Courtesy of the Washington Post.

Red Letters

5:3 Beatitudes
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

“Those who mourn” can be interpreted to mean grieving, defeated people who come to the Comforter, those who are sorry for their lives of sin and come penitent to the Comforter, or those who mourn for the state of the world and allow the things that break the heart of their Comforter to break theirs.

All of these interpretations are correct in a certain way. The first is obviously true since God’s tender touch can heal broken or grieving hearts. The second is true because those who are sincerely sorry and come to God receive His forgiveness and are comforted by Him when He removes their sin farther than the East is from the West and prompts them to let it go as well. The third is true only in a non-temporal sense. Those who mourn along with the broken heart of God will not be relieved of their griefs until they are released from this mournful world.

Patriots v. Packers

I'll be home for a very big game this weekend, as the Patriots welcome Green Bay to Gillette Stadium. After watching Green Bay pound the Chicago Bears last night, I'm worried. Our only advantage will be an extra day of rest, and added motivation. With Miami playing at Denver this week, we ought to be able to make up the ground we lost last week, and come out tied with a 4-2 record. However, if we lose, we'll be a disappointing 3-3, with Denver, Buffalo, Chicago, and Oakland coming up after our bye week. Those teams are a combined 12-7, and all pose real challenges. After that we can go on a run - the 5 teams we face before the (possible crucial) season finale against Miami are a combined 5-19 at this point, and none look playoff-bound.

For the record, Miami's schedule is tougher. While the Pats get Green Bay and Denver at home, Miami has to visit both places. Poor them. But other than that it looks quite similar, so the Pats have to win to win. Right?

Blame Canada

It's as I suspected all along: THE TRUTH about Canadians.

Work

I still enjoy my work, though I'm trying to be less (visibly) frustrated when things get interrupted and we're assigned to do pointless busywork, as often happens. I've logged a lot of hours - I have 20 saved up, which will come in handy with my God-willing trip home this Friday. Right now I'm waiting for the copy machine to plow its way through the 2nd ream of the afternoon, as we commence to copy the last week's press clippings on everything Peace Corps. It's not an exciting task, but the copier does most of the work. Usually we do this on Friday but our "special" employee in charge of copiers (he's been here since 1963; they say don't get him mad or his unique mind will flip) couldn't fix the toner, so an outside technician had to be brought in. So we're 4 days late (it won't get finished until tomorrow).

Well, I'm off to buy some new underwear (I know you all wanted to be...umm... briefed on that situation), and I've successfully logged more overtime - an hour and a half of it today.

P.S. Sniper's still on the loose; a 13-yr-old was shot outside his Maryland school this morning.

On the Loose

Yesterday's murderer is still on the loose. I fear I misinformed you all saying it was a pair of white males: fact is, for all we know it could be a set of female black triplets or a mad Polynesian scientist. What we do know is that they have a powerful gun and a well-trained hand. Six shots were fired, only one - the first - missed its target. That one merely drilled a small hole in the window of a bustling craft store. Five more shots hit their marks, with the victims dying in seconds. There is no apparent connection among the victims: three Caucasians, an Indian, and a Hispanic. Three men, two women. All adults, all outdoors. One vacuuming her car at a gas station, one mowing a friend's lawn. One reading on a park bench, one pumping gas, and still another walking across a parking lot. All within a 3 mile radius in southeastern Montgomery County.

And the police are still in the dark.

Red Letters

5:3 Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The kingdom of heaven, still sketchily described, is to be possessed, ruled, enjoyed, inhabited, experienced by the “poor in spirit.” The poor in spirit are those whose spirits have been broken, who are not ambitious, who are not self-important, self-absorbed, self-confident.

Brokenness and humility are the character qualities involved here. The kingdom of heaven, like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, can only be inherited by those who are willing to do it the master’s way, who don’t come in with their own ideas and methods. Christians need to allow their selves to be finely ground into a clay that can be molded by the potter -- larger sand particles can’t hold a shape like clay can.

Shootings

The Washington area is buzzing with fear and theories as five seemingly random victims have been shot in the past 24 hours by a pair of young white thugs cruising in a commercial van. The shootings have been scattered over a few square miles of Montgomery County. It's right on my commute to and from church & small group meetings. If it had happened a day earlier, I would have ridden right through the area - wealthy, suburban developments - at 7:00 and again at 10:00. A bit disconcerting, though I'm not unduly distressed. Anyway, I'll keep abreast the situation.

Star Wars Uncovered

In researching Tunisia for the Peace Corps website, I found on Lonely Planet's awesome site that you can visit "the space-age sets of Star Wars (parts of which were filmed at Matmata)". Check the map, and you'll find that it's just a few miles from... Tataouine. Aha.

Red Letters

Matthew 4:17 Early preaching theme:
“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”

The kingdom of heaven is introduced, and described much more throughout the gospels, along with a call to repentance. The message is initially very similar to John’s, though preached in a different region, generally.

***

Matthew 4:19 Call to Peter & Andrew
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Fishers of men has been used as a description of evangelization ever since this was said. The means and results of evangelization are not as analogous to fishing as the experience. We do not, for example, fry converts in butter. However the experience of casting out nets into the unknown and pulling in an unknown number of fish and trusting in God to get the fish into the net is analogous to evangelism. We don’t fight against unbelievers, we fight our own shortcomings and the non-human opponents of weather and wear.

Politically Correct Columbus Day

Two emails were sent out by someone from Peace Corps Human Resources on successive days. The first one read:

Monday October 14, Columbus Day, is a Federal Holiday. That means we have that day off to celebrate our nation's discoverer, by Christopher Columbus!

If you plan to be off on Friday October 11 and/or Tuesday October 15, these are regular work days, please advise your Supervisor as soon as possible.

Have a great time, and remember why we have the day off.

And the second email read: I would like to apologize for my first E-mail that inadvertently suggested that Christopher Columbus was the one person that "discovered" or established the first civilization in America. My apology goes primarily to all Native Americans and others that may have taken offense to the statement. Our current history has shown us that he was not the first person here from another country nor was he the first one to establish a civilization. All of us are very well aware of the fact that Native Americans, Russians and many other cultures were here long before Christopher arrived. I apologize for any misunderstanding or discomfort I may have caused anyone.