theo|digital

So I’ve decided on Mondays I’ll start popping in quotes that I heard in the last week in lectures from professors or from my reading. Three simple (and rather unrelated) ones:

Nobody wants to be average or to have mass appeal. To call someone vanilla is an insult. Today, no company in its right mind would name itself General Motors or General Electric or General Foods.

~ Leonard Sweet, The Gospel According to Starbucks p40

God reveals, not interesting info about the universe, not answers for the ACT, and not even instructions on how to get to heaven. God reveals God. God reveals himself.

~ Prof. Brent Laytham, THEO 6330 (Christian Theology) lecture

I can’t get that drunk so quickly.

~ Prof. Klyne Snodgrass illustrates locution vs. elocution in BIBL 5150 (New Testament 1) lecture. Are we speaking about getting trashed in 5 minutes? Cops trying to arrest a drunken man in a short amount time? Or Klyne’s wife not having time to wait for her tea to cool before she heads for work?

Welp, my 2nd Amazon dump arrived this morning at 11:04am. I “in-processed” them like the nerd I am… entering ISBN’s into my LibraryThing, tagging them appropriately, then stamping each with my little “From my personal library: Chris Ridgeway” stamp on the inside lower right corner of the first page.

My textbooks are numerous, expensive, but (for the most part) promise to be fascinating. The first five arrived this morning at 11:46am from UPS.

ps – I haven’t been posting because I’m so EXHAUSTED. The first week has been kicking my butt. Hopefully recovery some over this long weekend.

I’ve never heard of this author. She’s new. But Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) is recommending her. And, um, I like her low tech website.

When we lose touch with the continuing reality of our selfishness, then forgiveness becomes something that it is good of God to do, like the newspaper carrier’s making sure the morning edition lands under the porch roof on a rainy day. We feel moved enough to remember his kindness with a generous tip the next time he collects.

Part of the problem is that we feel the reality of our wounds more than the fact of our sin. We therefore react with more passion to those things that restore a sense of personal wholeness than to our redemption.

How wrong of us to dedicate our energy to becoming whole. History is filled with the lives of godly men and women who managed to bless others in the midst of unrelieved personal struggles that left them feeling anything but whole.

~ Larry Crabb, Men & Women, p113 (italics are his)

…aren’t as much enemies as it could seem at first glance. Gave a talk last night at I-Life called “Why I Want Sex.” Will post the audio when it becomes available, but wanted to note four books (among others) that I referenced when preparing for my talk.

I love books. I got the following during Christmas or the holidays, most I had “wish-listed” in one way or another.

Of course, you’ll notice most of these taking a while to show up in my “Currently Reading” list on the right. Still a pretty heavy queue, like always… and these aren’t recommendations yet: I have to read them first. (although I gotta tell you, Douglas Coupland never loses).

ps – thanks again if you gave me one of these as a gift!

now non-specifically referred to as the restroom, is the subject of the 2nd historical picture-book co-authored by my Aunt Sharon. The premise, seriously, is exploring things found in artifact digs around… outhouses. Amazing the things you’ll find.

She also co-authored a book about the history of Naperville, using authentic old postcards they dug up from libraries, shops, and post-card shows.