A Look at Questions on Doctrine

My childhood friend, Tim Arakawa, whom some of you know as the former vice president of GYC and a current member of its board, wrote a very interesting blog. It centers on the publishing of the book Questions on Doctrine, one of the most controversial events in the history of the Adventist Church. It's sad that in the three minutes it took me to read Tim's blog, I learned more about it than I did in the 50-minute lecture in my Adventist Heritage class. If you identify yourself as an Adventist then you owe it to yourself to read it.

Happy Sabbath

Thoughts on Southern's Cafetaria Food

Why didn't anyone tell me about the existence of this video?

Seems like Eric Rose interviewed half of SEYC and the Bible Workers Club for their thoughts on Southern's Cafeteria food and recorded their (unintentionally) funny response.

A few of the (occasionally head scratching) highlights...

Surranny Villimizar: Fun?
Jon Tillay: The what sandwich?
Brian Glass: "Right?"
Christy Kurtz: Nasty
Jeff Tatarchuk: "You recording?"
Carlos Cirilo: Cat food?

find the matching (or not-so-matching) siblings

Why Have Children - Part One

I took this photo of my daughter, Reyna Joy, four days ago with my cell phone and saved it as my phone's wallpaper. Ever since then I've pulled out my cell phone about ten times a day when I'm at work, school, etc. just to look at my two-month-old beauty. I love her more everyday.

In a world that has gone mad, why bring precious children into it? Richard O'Ffill says he advises couples its a risk worth taking. "They're the only thing you might be able to take with you to heaven."

Think about it.

What do you call yours that won't one day burn at Christ's second coming? You can't take your car, clothes, or CDs to heaven. As my friend Thomson Paris wrote in a great post, outside of character and souls there is nothing else you can take with you.

But to be more specific, what is mine that I can take? As much as I would like to lay claim to my friends, they really don't belong to me. Therefore, the closest thing I can claim as mine is my family and that strongest claim may be made about my girl Reyna, the one I'm responsible for Biblically, morally, and legally.

So when it comes to what you call "your's" or "mine", take a risk: Have children. Love them. Teach them. Disciple them. And pray they'll be good and faithful servants of the LORD and that they'll spend eternity with you.

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

What Victory Looks Like

Do you know how hard it is to get two knuckleheads together? Especially when the boy has temporarily misplaced his mojo and the girl's intuition is on the fritz? Never in my life had I had to resort to every single Machiavellian trick up my sleeve to make any other conniving scheme work, but it was worth it for my February triumph.

The three tenets I had to obey for ultimate victory...
1. Make the boy think that every idea I had to get him into the vicinity of the girl was actually his idea.
2. Make the girl think that every time she "happened" to be around the boy that there served a practical purpose for some altruistic venture.
3. Use deceit only when necessary, which basically meant all the time.

For instance, one night in January, I needed help moving the baby crib into the basement. It just so "happened" that on a Saturday night I "desperately" needed the boy's help in moving the crib. Of course, with two people carrying such a cumbersome crib in the pitch black darkness of night, I "needed" the help of the girl to be the "lamp to our feet and a light for our path".

Naturally the task was so "taxing", I suggested the three of us should go back into the living room and recover our strength. And what, pray tell, would be a better way to recover than upon the most comfortable coach in all of Collegedale? Of course the boy was too gentlemanly to share the couch with the girl and it took much "prodding" by the man of the house before the boy was convinced that the wobbly wooden chairs from Wal-Mart might collapse under his well-toned, muscular body (due to regular visits to the YMCA).

Hee, hee...


Knowing that something special was blooming I grabbed my Canon Rebel to photograph the historic moment that will be passed down the Paris/Pham family tree.

Of course it didn't take too long before girl and boy felt cozy...


The eventual result...weeks later mojo was rediscovered, intuition was restored, and soon after victory was achieved.

Perhaps I'm taking too much credit, but as a journalist I've learned never to let the facts get in the way of a good story.