Road Kill Kitty Cake

Of the five Crummett kids, Sam has the highest education; he is also the only one of us who could win the prize at his work’s Halloween Potluck for the “spookiest dish”.

A True Coach

I was on the couch or in bed all day yesterday with a cold - for the first time this year I was able to watch some college football. I watched Georgia beat LSU. After I saw the following video, I am happy Georgia won. As long as Mark Richt remains the head coach, and they are not playing a PAC 10 team, I will root for Georgia.

The Shack

Everytime I peruse the book isle at Costco I am tempted to buy it, for it must be quality writing with its current residence at the top of the New York Time Bestseller List. Obviously I am interested in the subject. I have no trouble buying things I should not at Costco, but I have refrained on this one.

My hesitation from the start: with a subtle twist, the essence of God is changed via the powerful literary form of a narrative.

God has chosen, through the Bible, to teach us about himself through story - the narrative. Why? It taps into our emotions and connects our heart with our head. God does not teach us theology by only stating principles for us to learn. For example, he brings us into the scene to watch, feel and understand what happens when an eighty year-old man named Moses approaches Pharaoh, the most powerful King on earth, and ridiculously requests to let a couple million of his slave laborers go. When we leave the scene we not only know God is sovereign, we feel it.

God does not tell just tell us to believe he is our redeemer, he wants us to feel it through the beautiful love story of Ruth and Boaz.

God does not just tell us to love our wives, he wants us to feel it through the sensual intimacy of the Song of Solomon.

God does not just tell us he loves us, he wants us to feel it as it is described four times in the New Testament narrative of the Crucifixion.

The Shack is wanting you to feel some principles about God that are false.

If you care to read more, Gerald Hiestand has a good review here.

I will most likely end up reading it, but remembering to guard my heart as I do. If you have read it, am I off base?

A Wedding Ceremony

Communion, baptism and the wedding ceremony; why is it that some ceremonies elicit emotion from us no matter how many times we take part or witness it? All have been instituted by God and they point to something greater (our souls knows this). The wedding ceremony may be the greatest:

• it points to the past, for we witness God create a new oneness before our eyes as two become one - we think of creation


• we celebrate the present, for the closest communion between two individuals has taken place and it is based on a vow - our relationship with God is based on his promises to us.


• it points to the future, for we are the bride of Christ and some day we will come together with our redeemer

Thank you David and Amber Austin for giving us strength from the past, joy in the present and great hope for the future.

Humpty Dumpty

Pre-wedding activities for David and Amber's wedding - run the kids at the park. The Oregon and California Crummett cousins had fun at Bidwell Park in Chico.

Smoke Detector

This may have been the Crummett's smoke detector when we lived in "the cabin" decades ago:

The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

Susan and I fly home tomorrow morning from Minneapolis. We are grateful God worked it out and allowed us to attend John Piper's conference titled "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God".

I plan to make additional posts in the future as I meditate on the six speakers we heard; it may take six months to soak in the six messages.

All of the messages (print, audio and video) are here.

ESV Study Bible

I made the switch from the NASB to the ESV around three years ago and have never looked back, for it is a very well done word for word translation. A study Bible has been in the works for a while and I placed my order last spring. The delivery date is approaching:

The figures and notes look great and the essays contained in the back appear to be worth the price of the Bible. Two of the authors, J.I. Packer and John Hannah both have a small connection with my family, for Sam (brother) had a one-on-one semester study with Packer at Regent and I was blessed to sit under Hannah for a week of teaching at BSF Headquarters. I enjoyed sharing a dinner together with Dr. John Hannah one evening - a very gracious, humble, down-to-earth man who has been touched by the grace of God (he is also quirky, but brilliant).

Poetic Justice - Now and Then

Jacob and Ryan were instructed to get ready for bed. Jacob, as stealthy as a six year old can be, throws some objects into the doorway of his bedroom. Mom questions - no answer. Mom investigates - a couple of die cast miniature airplanes have been thrown on the carpet. Mom questions again, "so you will step on them", is the answer given in a bratty voice.

I assume this is an attempt at humor from a six-year-old. It is a good thing Dad did not hear, for there would have been a quick readjustment of his sense of humor. Mom, with motherly intuition, waits for him to finish brushing his teeth. He has a disagreement with his brother, forgets about the trap he has lain, walks down the hall in bare feet and steps on a plane with full force. Jacob immediately cries out in pain and the volume of his cries double when he observes his mom unsuccessfully attempting to suppress her laughter.

Poetic Justice.

The Pharaoh of Egypt has a plan to break the divine strength that has multiplied the Israelites from 70 to two million. He instructs the midwives to abort on the "birth stool" the innocent sons of the Hebrews. His plan fails. He commands his nation to throw the new born boys into the Nile - death by drowning. His plan is thwarted, for God has a greater plan.

God is not mocked: Within a generation, a cry arises from Egypt that would turn your spine cold as the Egyptians discover their own eldest sons have all been killed by God.

The final separation from Egypt occurs when a Pharaoh, surrounded by the might of his army, has the life leave his body after the water from the Red Sea fills his lungs; death by drowning.

Poetic Justice.

Stop and Listen.

A story from the Washington Post:

Joshua Bell emerged from the Metro and positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket. By most measures, he was nondescript—a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money and began to play.
For the next 45 minutes, in the D.C. Metro on January 12, 2007, Bell played Mozart and Schubert as over 1,000 people streamed by, most hardly taking notice. If they had paid attention, they might have recognized the young man for the world-renowned violinist he is. They also might have noted the violin he played—a rare Stradivarius worth over $3 million. It was all part of a project arranged by The Washington Post—"an experiment in context, perception, and priorities—as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste. In a banal setting, at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?" Just three days earlier, Joshua Bell sold out Boston Symphony Hall, with ordinary seats going for $100. In the subway, Bell garnered about $32 from the 27 people who stopped long enough to give a donation.

How often we do this with God; if only we would stop and listen, for beauty would transform our soul.