This week's class was taught by Jim Shuman (who is John Erickson's brother-in-law [for those of you reading this who don't know who John is, he is the directer here at MWSB] as well as Randy Shuman's, a Venture this year, uncle). Very interesting class.
Some of the things in the class that really interested me were all the connections between some of what Jesus said and the particular feast going on at the time He said it. For example: When Jesus said "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink . . ." that was during the Feast of Booths (aka Feast of Tabernacles--see John 7). Part of the celebrations included pouring water and wine over the altar as a symbol of the Messiah. (I am going to be a bit honest, I don't quite remember what the symbolism actually was, but it was somehow connected with the Messiah) It was very cool seeing the connection. So when Jesus said that He was the living water, the Jews knew exactly what He meant! Same with in chapter 8 when Jesus says He is the light of the world. Another part of the celebrations was the lighting of a couple of huge (like, 75 feet tall huge) candelabras. These represented how the Messiah would be a light in the world. Once again, the Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant by "the light of the world." Very interesting.
As part of the class, we watched a couple of music videos (one of them was Kutless "Sea of Faces") and, to get a better idea of what Jesus was going through in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed, we also watched that scene from "Passion." Powerful stuff! And very interesting to see how history and cultural traditions tie in with the Bible.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
MWSB-Jan 18-22: Intro to Missions
This week's class was called Intro to Missions. It was taught by Joel and Kristin Snyder, a missionary couple from New Tribes Mission. Their job requires them to stay in the States and train other missionaries for the field.
This class was more hands on than previous classes. On Tuesday, we participated in an exercise demonstrating some of what some missionaries have to deal with upon entering a tribe or people group and not knowing the language (and no one outside the tribe knows the language either). Some of us were the missionaries, and the rest of us (I fell into this category) were the Luna tribe. That was fun.
We also watched several videos of various tribes' stories of their experiences with missionaries. We also watched several group presentations (4 students per group, with 3 in one group) about various missions organizations: YWAM, MAF, Christar, Frontiers, Wycliffe, just to name a few of them. Those were very informative also.
This was a very fun and interesting class. It made me think a bit more about the possibility of serving the Lord in a similar way.
This class was more hands on than previous classes. On Tuesday, we participated in an exercise demonstrating some of what some missionaries have to deal with upon entering a tribe or people group and not knowing the language (and no one outside the tribe knows the language either). Some of us were the missionaries, and the rest of us (I fell into this category) were the Luna tribe. That was fun.
We also watched several videos of various tribes' stories of their experiences with missionaries. We also watched several group presentations (4 students per group, with 3 in one group) about various missions organizations: YWAM, MAF, Christar, Frontiers, Wycliffe, just to name a few of them. Those were very informative also.
This was a very fun and interesting class. It made me think a bit more about the possibility of serving the Lord in a similar way.
Monday, January 18, 2010
MWSB-Jan 11-15: Godly Relationships
January 11-15: Godly relationships class. Woohoo!! This class in the second week of second semester was taught by John and Terry Erickson--the director of MWSB and his wife.
I went into this class expecting to hear a lot about specifically guy/girl relationships, like dating/courting/leading to marriage. However, this class wasn't all that. We began with talking about relationships with other people in general and some of the character qualities we should be striving for and looking for in other people. I was slightly disappointed at first, but ended up liking the class a lot. We did end up talking about dating and what-not, but that wasn't until Thursday and Friday.
However, I got a lot of good stuff out of this class. Each one of us was required as part of our homework to write a character sketch on one of four people or groups of people listed. I chose to do mine on Ruth and I found a lot of the characteristics we had listed that were good for anyone to possess: loyalty, respect for authority, and a good work ethic to name some of them. Through this whole thing, we were challenged to become men and women of character.
Thursday began the guy/girl/boyfriend/girlfriend talks. We watched a video of an example of a courtship relationship (kind of an extreme one!) and then compared courtship with modern dating. We broke into groups and discussed these and sent a spokesperson up to the front to state what we had come up with. Our group determined that courtship has greater potential for a healthy relationship, but those involved in a courtship must be careful to avoid legalism.
All in all, this was a very good and interesting class. A lot of good things to remember and know.
I went into this class expecting to hear a lot about specifically guy/girl relationships, like dating/courting/leading to marriage. However, this class wasn't all that. We began with talking about relationships with other people in general and some of the character qualities we should be striving for and looking for in other people. I was slightly disappointed at first, but ended up liking the class a lot. We did end up talking about dating and what-not, but that wasn't until Thursday and Friday.
However, I got a lot of good stuff out of this class. Each one of us was required as part of our homework to write a character sketch on one of four people or groups of people listed. I chose to do mine on Ruth and I found a lot of the characteristics we had listed that were good for anyone to possess: loyalty, respect for authority, and a good work ethic to name some of them. Through this whole thing, we were challenged to become men and women of character.
Thursday began the guy/girl/boyfriend/girlfriend talks. We watched a video of an example of a courtship relationship (kind of an extreme one!) and then compared courtship with modern dating. We broke into groups and discussed these and sent a spokesperson up to the front to state what we had come up with. Our group determined that courtship has greater potential for a healthy relationship, but those involved in a courtship must be careful to avoid legalism.
All in all, this was a very good and interesting class. A lot of good things to remember and know.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Retro Rockstar Legwarmers
Retro Rockstar Legwarmers
At school we were having a Retro Rockstar/80s night, and I needed some legwarmers. I looked at the yarn I had in my dorm and lo and behold, 1 1/2 skeins of Lion Brand Jiffy. Yay!! So, not finding a quick pattern to suit what I wanted, I designed these and whipped them up. The making spanned over two days, but I could've easily done them in one day. So here you go: Retro Rockstar Legwarmers. Note: they are easier than they look!
Materials:
Size L (8mm) crochet hook
2 balls Lion Brand Jiffy (3 oz/85 g; 135 yds/123 m; 100% Acrylic)—Avocado (NOTE: if longer warmers are desired, you will need to buy a 3rd ball)
Gauge:
5 sc x 5 rows in Sc rib=2”
Sc Rib:
Every row: ch 1, sc across in back lp only
Crossed sts (CrSt):
Sk next st, dc in next st, going behind dc just made, dc in skipped st
Cuff (make 2):
Ch 6, leaving an 8” tail for sewing later
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook and in ea ch across—5 sc
Work in Sc Rib for 32 rows—about 12”
Do not fasten off! Extend lp so it doesn't come unraveled and remove hook so it's not so cumbersome. Using beginning tail, sew short ends together sewing through FLO's to keep integrity of ribbing. Place lp back on hook and return lp to normal size.
Warmer:
Ch 1, 32 sc around long end of cuff (you will be working into the ends of the rows), sl st to beg sc. Work now proceeds in rnds
Rnd 2: Ch 3, Work CrSt around (the first sk st is the one at the base of ch-3), join to beg ch-3—32 dc/16 crosses
Rnd 3: ch 1, sc around, join—32 sc
Rep rnds 2-3 (If desired, just rep rnd 2 only and skip rnd 3, in that case the first skipped st would be the first dc of the prev rnd) until you run out of yarn of one ball. Back-track and undo any sts to end of last complete CrSt rnd making sure you keep the sl st join.
Fasten off.
Weave in ends.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
MWSB-Jan 4-8: Philippians
First week of second semester. A class on the book of Philippians. Yay! Philippians is one of my favorite books of the Bible. This class was taught by a pastor from Bozeman, MT named Brian Hughes. We went through the whole book in 4 days with a test on it on Friday. For part of our homework (but not discussed in class) we were given the book Be Joyful by Warren W. Wiersbe to read. An interesting read that went along well with what Brian taught us on. (There are other books in the series whose titles all begin with "Be . . .")
Some of the new things I learned: Learned about Textual Criticism. Textual Criticism comes from comparing various translations and why some translations say one thing and others say a different, but similar (and doctrinally sound and identical). This came up when we came across Phil. 1:16 and 17. Pause reading this a minute get out your Bibles (or go to www.biblegateway.com or a similar website) and compare these two verses in NIV, ESV, NLT, or most any other modern translation with the KJV or NKJV. Notice something? Yes, they are indeed switched! During Brian's discussion on Textual Criticism, we learned the reason why: the KJV and NKJV translate from the majority of documents, meaning that their translation is what the majority of the original documents say. The NIV and it's modern "cousins" translate from the earliest documents, not the majority. This also explains why some other passages in the New Testament have an bracketed note (not part of Scripture) that says something along the lines of "The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have such-and-such-passage." This didn't happen at all in the Old Testament because the text was copied out only by professional scribes: if they made one mistake, no matter how far into the text they were, they threw the whole thing out and started over--talk about dedicated copying!
Fascinating isn't it?
We also learned about the history behind Paul ending up in prison from where he wrote Philippians and the other three Prison Letters/Epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. He wrote from prison in Rome. Well, actually it was house arrest, but still a type of prison nonetheless. When Paul wrote these Prison Letters, he had been under arrest in 3 different locations (Jerusalem for a little while, Cesarea by the Sea and Rome) for a total of probably at least 4 years: 2 in Cesarea, about 2 in Rome and an unknown amount of time in Jerusalem. Doesn't seem like the best of contexts for the writing of a book about joy, eh? One of the things that Brian mentioned was that Paul was able to fulfill his desire of ministering to Rome best while under house arrest. The guards took turns guarding him, so they each got several hours of interacting with Paul and observing and having to hear whatever Paul said about Christianity. In fact, in chapter 1 of Philippians, Paul talks about this very thing: "Now I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ." That was chapter 1 verses 12-13. Notice something. Paul never considered himself a prisoner of Rome, rather he always called himself a prisoner of Christ.
Something else that I found interesting: Paul, Epaphroditus, and the Philippian church (which was founded by Lydia and her household-Acts 16:14-15 [Lydia was the first believer in all of Europe!] and the Philippian jailer and his family in Acts 16:25-40 on Paul's second missionary journey) all thought of others and never themselves. Paul was concerned for the church because they were concerned about Epaphroditus who was concerned for the church because they had heard that he was sick (not a cold sick, but like, deathly sick) and were concerned for him, the church was concerned for Paul because he was in prison, and Paul was concerned for Epaphroditus because he was sick. Just a loop of concern for everyone else but themselves. What an example of selflessness!
One more thing that I found interesting. At this time the Philippian church was off to a good start, they were nothing like the Corinthian church. But Paul had heard about some seeds of disunity that had been planted and in his letter, he was determined to nip it in the bud. Imagine something that Brian had us imagine. You're in 1st-century Philippi and the church has just gotten a letter from Paul in Rome. Euodia and Syntyche are there too. As was tradition in those days (hearing the Word rather than reading it for themselves, not usually having their own copies), someone read Paul's letter for their church service. Everyone is enjoying hearing the letter, but a few verses that briefly and subtly touch on being loving and unified start to make these two women a tad nervous. Then the reader gets to what is now chapter 4, verse 2-3: "I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Paul had the audacity to call these two women out by name as members of the church (they were believers, "whose names are written in the book of life", and they served the church "who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel"! Not typical characteristics of dissenters) who were causing disunity.
Quite some interesting stuff from such a little book (only 4 chapters), don't you think? I thought so.
Some of the new things I learned: Learned about Textual Criticism. Textual Criticism comes from comparing various translations and why some translations say one thing and others say a different, but similar (and doctrinally sound and identical). This came up when we came across Phil. 1:16 and 17. Pause reading this a minute get out your Bibles (or go to www.biblegateway.com or a similar website) and compare these two verses in NIV, ESV, NLT, or most any other modern translation with the KJV or NKJV. Notice something? Yes, they are indeed switched! During Brian's discussion on Textual Criticism, we learned the reason why: the KJV and NKJV translate from the majority of documents, meaning that their translation is what the majority of the original documents say. The NIV and it's modern "cousins" translate from the earliest documents, not the majority. This also explains why some other passages in the New Testament have an bracketed note (not part of Scripture) that says something along the lines of "The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have such-and-such-passage." This didn't happen at all in the Old Testament because the text was copied out only by professional scribes: if they made one mistake, no matter how far into the text they were, they threw the whole thing out and started over--talk about dedicated copying!
Fascinating isn't it?
We also learned about the history behind Paul ending up in prison from where he wrote Philippians and the other three Prison Letters/Epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. He wrote from prison in Rome. Well, actually it was house arrest, but still a type of prison nonetheless. When Paul wrote these Prison Letters, he had been under arrest in 3 different locations (Jerusalem for a little while, Cesarea by the Sea and Rome) for a total of probably at least 4 years: 2 in Cesarea, about 2 in Rome and an unknown amount of time in Jerusalem. Doesn't seem like the best of contexts for the writing of a book about joy, eh? One of the things that Brian mentioned was that Paul was able to fulfill his desire of ministering to Rome best while under house arrest. The guards took turns guarding him, so they each got several hours of interacting with Paul and observing and having to hear whatever Paul said about Christianity. In fact, in chapter 1 of Philippians, Paul talks about this very thing: "Now I want you to know brothers that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ." That was chapter 1 verses 12-13. Notice something. Paul never considered himself a prisoner of Rome, rather he always called himself a prisoner of Christ.
Something else that I found interesting: Paul, Epaphroditus, and the Philippian church (which was founded by Lydia and her household-Acts 16:14-15 [Lydia was the first believer in all of Europe!] and the Philippian jailer and his family in Acts 16:25-40 on Paul's second missionary journey) all thought of others and never themselves. Paul was concerned for the church because they were concerned about Epaphroditus who was concerned for the church because they had heard that he was sick (not a cold sick, but like, deathly sick) and were concerned for him, the church was concerned for Paul because he was in prison, and Paul was concerned for Epaphroditus because he was sick. Just a loop of concern for everyone else but themselves. What an example of selflessness!
One more thing that I found interesting. At this time the Philippian church was off to a good start, they were nothing like the Corinthian church. But Paul had heard about some seeds of disunity that had been planted and in his letter, he was determined to nip it in the bud. Imagine something that Brian had us imagine. You're in 1st-century Philippi and the church has just gotten a letter from Paul in Rome. Euodia and Syntyche are there too. As was tradition in those days (hearing the Word rather than reading it for themselves, not usually having their own copies), someone read Paul's letter for their church service. Everyone is enjoying hearing the letter, but a few verses that briefly and subtly touch on being loving and unified start to make these two women a tad nervous. Then the reader gets to what is now chapter 4, verse 2-3: "I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life." Paul had the audacity to call these two women out by name as members of the church (they were believers, "whose names are written in the book of life", and they served the church "who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel"! Not typical characteristics of dissenters) who were causing disunity.
Quite some interesting stuff from such a little book (only 4 chapters), don't you think? I thought so.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Acacia's Socks
These socks came from a request at a family reunion from my young cousin, Acacia who asked me to make her a pair of socks. She had seen me give her older sister a pair that I had made (but were way too small for anyone in my immediate family) and wanted a pair. So I designed these on the train ride home from CA and named them after her. :)
Acacia's Socks
Materials
1 (2) balls 50g sock yarn
1 40” size 2 circular needle
yarn needle, scissors, 2 st markers
Notes/Techniques required:
Magic Loop knitting, Figure 8 cast on, sewn bind off, two-at-a-time, short-row heel
Twist Pattern:
Rnd 1: *K 2nd st on LH needle, do NOT slip off, K 1st st on LH needle, slip both sts off, K2* around
Rnds 2, 4: K
Rnd 3: *K2, K 2nd st on LH needle, do NOT slip off, K 1st st on LH needle, slip both sts off* around.
Rep rnds 1-4 for pattern
Twist Pattern can be used on top of foot and leg, or just on the leg (as in photo).
Written for a child's sock to fit foot 6” long, 3” wide. Instructions for adult socks in parenthesis.
“Side” refers to a part of the sts on one side of the circular needle
Instructions
Using a Figure 8 cast on, CO 12 (16) sts using one end of yarn ball, rep using other end (second ball) for second sock. K even 1 rnd, placing marker to mark beg of rnd.
Inc beg and end of ea side of toe EOR until 48 (64) or desired width.
Work even in St st with optional Twist Pattern on 1st side of each sock until 1 ½” (2”) less than desired length.
Work short-row heel, one at a time, on 2nd side, to 8 (14) unworked sts before bringing sts back into play.
When both heels are complete, K 4 rnds. Beg chart and work to desired leg length minus about 1”
Work 1x1 rib for 7 (10) rnds.
Using a sewn bind off, BO all sts—Note: to do this, you will have to BO the sts in the same order as if you were knitting them. You will also have to move the yarn needle from tail to tail or use 2 yarn needles.
Monday, January 4, 2010
MWSB-A Tale of 9 Staples
No, I do not mean staples for fastening pieces of paper together. The staples I am referring to are the special, surgical kind, used in lieu of stitches for holding together long/deep wounds while they heal. Here's the story:
It's my first day back at MDub (MWSB's nickname) on January 3, and I decided to go inner tubing down one of the icy driveways. I had seen other students doing the same thing and figured, 'Hey, why not? It'll help pass the time'. So up to the top of the hill I go. About a minute later, I am careening down the hill on a rather large tube, screaming my head off the whole way down. It was pretty fun. For a few short seconds.
We (my tube buddy and I) are heading towards a cement-enclosed garbage/dumpster thing. The tube turns. I am now closest to the dumpster, and parallel to it. My thought as I saw the dumpster draw near was "Oh crap! I'm gonna crash into the metal door!!" And BOOM!! Crash I did. I got up, laughing, and my riding buddy (who had bailed and probably told me to do the same, as did other spectators, but I didn't hear anything else except my own screaming) then told me I was bleeding. Oh great. My grandpa (my mom's dad, who, along with Grandma, who had come with my mom and my 2 sisters and me to drop me off--I call him Papa Steve) saw what looked like a cut on my face, but then saw a stream of blood coming from up higher. He put his handkerchief to my head and walked me to the gym. One of my classmates brought me a chair to sit on, while I waited for one of the staff to take me up to another staff house (one of the staff living in that house was an EMT) to get me looked at and cleaned up.
Some minutes later, I am in the van with Papa Steve and Mom on our way out to Great Falls to the ER there. Whoopee. A few hours and some waiting later, I emerge from the ER sporting 9 lovely staples in my head, holding my 1 1/2" long cut (or at this point, it might be considered a gash) closed.
And that's the Tale of 9 Staples from my first day back at school, with class beginning the next day.
profile picture
Just a quickie about my profile picture. It's not the best picture out there because it is really hard to draw something good on Microsoft Paint, but I made an attempt and so there you have it: my wyvern (which, for those of you who don't know, is a European dragon with no front legs, just back ones and if I am remembering correctly, may be one of the biggest types of dragons out there) quickly done in Microsoft Paint. :) Plus, it's my Internet identity avatar.
Somethin' New
Helloooooo there!!!
This is my first thing like this, so if it takes me a while to get everything going or if I mess something up, bear with me, I'll eventually get the hang of everything. Wee!! I have my own blog!
The contents of this will just be (as my title suggests) randomly-themed things, ranging anywhere from knitting or crochet patterns I have designed, to updates from MWSB (Montana Wilderness School of the Bible), to who-knows-what??? :)
If there is any particular category (like MWSB-related stuff, knitting stuff, or whatever) that a post will fit into, I will name the category first, and then the title of the post.
Enjoy!
Rawr!!
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