God is beautiful, and He shows His beauty in absolutely everything He has created and causes to happen. I've been thinking about the true meanings of words lately, probably because I've been reading The Purpose Driven Life. Rick Warren writes about how many words have been watered down in their meaning; fellowship and membership have been the main ones I've been reading about so far. A lot of words have become synonyms for 'very', and even more have lost all meaning. "He shows His beauty in absolutely everything" is strictly redundant. If God shows his beauty in everything, then what is added by the word "absolutely"?
I used to think about this kind of thing a whole lot more. Back in the days when I would read more than I would have casual conversation with friends, I decided that I would only use words by their dictionary definition, that my sentences would be strictly structured by grammar and truth. I subscribed to that CS Lewis ideal:
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
After quite a while of attempting this (and mostly succeeding in it), I realized that people don't generally talk that way. People don't want to talk that way, and when someone tries to follow such rules of thought, it's often mistaken as pride, conservatism, or at the very least, social ineptitude. I then came to the conclusion that I had a choice of how to use my thought during a conversation. I could make sure that everything I said was strictly truthful and accurate both ideally and grammatically, or I could make sure I was speaking in such a way that was enjoyable and empathetic to others. After much internal debate, I decided to let the two struggle within me, but to back the latter as it was the weakest. Sometimes it's good to let personal struggles of ideals continue indefinitely. Sometimes.
Enough with the semantics. Life has been enjoyable since my last post. Youth Together was a wonderful experience. I took two beautiful nature hikes, sat on the dock and watched the waves, prayed a lot, and made some new friends. I read the names Skoch carved in the bell (though I couldn't find mine), had some joyous reunions with old friends, and even had two conversations with Phil Cann. I can't express how much I enjoyed that weekend.
On a related note, if anyone has a good overview picture of any Salvation Army camp (especially Pine Lake), I would really appreciate it if you would send it to me. My e-mail address is on my profile page.
It was great to see Fil and Nav a few Saturdays ago, especially because it will be the only time Fil will be in Calgary all semester. I was glad Phil was able to join us because I was finally able to take some sensible pictures of Phil and Nav rather than the crazy ones from Lindsay and Michael's wedding. The four of us went to a pub. I had never been to a pub before, but us all being Sally Ann's, there was no drinking. I tried haggis for the first time. I tried it because I try every new food I can get my hands on, but I was very impressed. It was probably the best meat I have ever had. I would highly recommend it. Most places in Canada don't cook it in a real sheep's stomach anyway.
Another Saturday, I had a Fawlty Towers marathon. I watched all 12 episodes. Quite enjoyable. Apparently, it placed first in a list made by the British Film Institute of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. I had never even heard of the show. My favorite episode was The Kipper and the Corpse.
Two Sundays ago, I had the honour of being one of the 23542614 people to Stand Up against poverty in order to remind governments of their promises to eradicate all extreme poverty by 2012. On "United Nations International day for Poverty", Guinness World Records announced this as a new world record. Go here for more information. I've never been happier to be a number.
Teresa had her baby last Thursday! His name is Noah Derksen and I am practically jumping out of my seat waiting to see him. I haven't seen Teresa since we called her Kwak and she was single, and now she's married and has a baby! I've booked my trip to Grande Prairie for Remembrance Day weekend. I can't wait to see Teresa and meet her family.
I've joined the cast of a Christmas play. The first meeting is tonight. All I've been told about the play so far is that it has been written by Peter and Tim Robinson and that it will be unique. Wasn't that last part obvious?
I leave you now with a Triple Tribond. I figure I haven't done that in a while. In case you weren't around for the first one, the idea is that I give you a list of nine things and the first person to murmer back with the similarity between them all wins an official murmer back from me in congratulations. Ready? Here goes:
Joe DiMaggio
Buddy Ebsen
Clark Gable
Bil Keane
John F Kennedy
Gene Roddenberry
Charles Schulz
Red Skelton
Benjamin Spock
I used to think about this kind of thing a whole lot more. Back in the days when I would read more than I would have casual conversation with friends, I decided that I would only use words by their dictionary definition, that my sentences would be strictly structured by grammar and truth. I subscribed to that CS Lewis ideal:
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
After quite a while of attempting this (and mostly succeeding in it), I realized that people don't generally talk that way. People don't want to talk that way, and when someone tries to follow such rules of thought, it's often mistaken as pride, conservatism, or at the very least, social ineptitude. I then came to the conclusion that I had a choice of how to use my thought during a conversation. I could make sure that everything I said was strictly truthful and accurate both ideally and grammatically, or I could make sure I was speaking in such a way that was enjoyable and empathetic to others. After much internal debate, I decided to let the two struggle within me, but to back the latter as it was the weakest. Sometimes it's good to let personal struggles of ideals continue indefinitely. Sometimes.
Enough with the semantics. Life has been enjoyable since my last post. Youth Together was a wonderful experience. I took two beautiful nature hikes, sat on the dock and watched the waves, prayed a lot, and made some new friends. I read the names Skoch carved in the bell (though I couldn't find mine), had some joyous reunions with old friends, and even had two conversations with Phil Cann. I can't express how much I enjoyed that weekend.
On a related note, if anyone has a good overview picture of any Salvation Army camp (especially Pine Lake), I would really appreciate it if you would send it to me. My e-mail address is on my profile page.
It was great to see Fil and Nav a few Saturdays ago, especially because it will be the only time Fil will be in Calgary all semester. I was glad Phil was able to join us because I was finally able to take some sensible pictures of Phil and Nav rather than the crazy ones from Lindsay and Michael's wedding. The four of us went to a pub. I had never been to a pub before, but us all being Sally Ann's, there was no drinking. I tried haggis for the first time. I tried it because I try every new food I can get my hands on, but I was very impressed. It was probably the best meat I have ever had. I would highly recommend it. Most places in Canada don't cook it in a real sheep's stomach anyway.
Another Saturday, I had a Fawlty Towers marathon. I watched all 12 episodes. Quite enjoyable. Apparently, it placed first in a list made by the British Film Institute of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. I had never even heard of the show. My favorite episode was The Kipper and the Corpse.
Two Sundays ago, I had the honour of being one of the 23542614 people to Stand Up against poverty in order to remind governments of their promises to eradicate all extreme poverty by 2012. On "United Nations International day for Poverty", Guinness World Records announced this as a new world record. Go here for more information. I've never been happier to be a number.
Teresa had her baby last Thursday! His name is Noah Derksen and I am practically jumping out of my seat waiting to see him. I haven't seen Teresa since we called her Kwak and she was single, and now she's married and has a baby! I've booked my trip to Grande Prairie for Remembrance Day weekend. I can't wait to see Teresa and meet her family.
I've joined the cast of a Christmas play. The first meeting is tonight. All I've been told about the play so far is that it has been written by Peter and Tim Robinson and that it will be unique. Wasn't that last part obvious?
I leave you now with a Triple Tribond. I figure I haven't done that in a while. In case you weren't around for the first one, the idea is that I give you a list of nine things and the first person to murmer back with the similarity between them all wins an official murmer back from me in congratulations. Ready? Here goes:
Joe DiMaggio
Buddy Ebsen
Clark Gable
Bil Keane
John F Kennedy
Gene Roddenberry
Charles Schulz
Red Skelton
Benjamin Spock
