I'm with stupid.
If you've been watching the coverage of the Pope's visit - and how could you miss? - you may have noticed the variety of hats he wears. They're actually called mitres (also spelled miter) and it turns out they take a standardized form. Two identical pieces are sewn together on the sides with a pleated piece of linen at the top. This allows the mitre to lay flat when it's not on the wearer's head. A tail is added to the back side. [How do you know which is the back side? It's the side with the tail.] This is always red.
Only bishops, cardinals and the Pope can wear a mitre, but sometimes special permission is given to abbots allowing them to wear it too.
But what surprised me was that no fixed form, other than the basic shape, exists for the mitre. For example, Pope Benedict XVI has had something like 24 separate mitres designed for him. Some of those, including those he wore on this visit, are really ornate! Gucci!
Which makes me wonder how he decides which mitre to wear on any given day. Fancy or plain? Gold, or white, or red, or....? Tall or short?
I couldn't deal with the pressure. I have one pair of dress shoes so I don't have to make any decisions on Sunday morning. (sorry, Leslie)
While we're at it, what do those bishops wear under their robes?
I think church went well this morning. "Think" is the operative word, since only God knows what goes on in the lives of his people. In the worship service we looked at 1 John 2:16, a verse which identifies the three sources of temptation. Note: any given temptation can fall into one or more, even all three, of the categories: lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
BTW, the KJV does a much better job of translating the Greek in this verse than the NIV. I can't figure out what the NIV editors were thinking when they got to this verse.
Then we went to two important passages to see this dynamic at work. Eve saw that the fruit of the forbidden tree was, "pleasing to the eye, good for food, and desirable for making one wise." See it?
From Genesis 3 to Matthew 4 - the temptation of Christ. Stones to food, the splendor of the earth as his, and all the angels rushing to catch him lest he stub his toe. There it is again. This is why the author of Hebrews can say that Christ was tempted in every way just like we are, yet was w/o sin. He was tempted in each of the three categories. And on this basis we can "find grace to help in time of need." That is when we are under temptation we can receive aid from the One who has been there, done that, but w/o sin.
(OK, if I could do that in two paragraphs, why did it take me 30 minutes this morning?)
In Foundations we learned about the Greek word oikonomia. But I can't do that in two paragraphs.
Danica Patrick won today's Indy race in Japan. I'm glad. She's not the first woman to race open wheel but she's the first to have had a measure of success, and it's nice to see what has been an exclusively male club broken. She is fiercely competitive, gives as good as she gets, and has demonstrated a level of skill on a par with any of the men in Indy racing.
Besides, it's good for the sport.
What isn't good for the sport is the new rule the Indy racing league has put into place this year. Danica has to carry extra weight in her car to remove any advantage she gains by weighing in at 100 pounds, as compared to the heaviest driver who weighs in at 190 pounds. Some of the other drivers, including Mr. Heavyweight, have complained she can go faster because her car is lighter. I'll bet Charles Barkley wishes they'd have put that rule into effect in the NBA.
You've been in corporate America too long when...
Only bishops, cardinals and the Pope can wear a mitre, but sometimes special permission is given to abbots allowing them to wear it too.
But what surprised me was that no fixed form, other than the basic shape, exists for the mitre. For example, Pope Benedict XVI has had something like 24 separate mitres designed for him. Some of those, including those he wore on this visit, are really ornate! Gucci!
Which makes me wonder how he decides which mitre to wear on any given day. Fancy or plain? Gold, or white, or red, or....? Tall or short?
I couldn't deal with the pressure. I have one pair of dress shoes so I don't have to make any decisions on Sunday morning. (sorry, Leslie)
While we're at it, what do those bishops wear under their robes?
I think church went well this morning. "Think" is the operative word, since only God knows what goes on in the lives of his people. In the worship service we looked at 1 John 2:16, a verse which identifies the three sources of temptation. Note: any given temptation can fall into one or more, even all three, of the categories: lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
BTW, the KJV does a much better job of translating the Greek in this verse than the NIV. I can't figure out what the NIV editors were thinking when they got to this verse.
Then we went to two important passages to see this dynamic at work. Eve saw that the fruit of the forbidden tree was, "pleasing to the eye, good for food, and desirable for making one wise." See it?
From Genesis 3 to Matthew 4 - the temptation of Christ. Stones to food, the splendor of the earth as his, and all the angels rushing to catch him lest he stub his toe. There it is again. This is why the author of Hebrews can say that Christ was tempted in every way just like we are, yet was w/o sin. He was tempted in each of the three categories. And on this basis we can "find grace to help in time of need." That is when we are under temptation we can receive aid from the One who has been there, done that, but w/o sin.
(OK, if I could do that in two paragraphs, why did it take me 30 minutes this morning?)
In Foundations we learned about the Greek word oikonomia. But I can't do that in two paragraphs.
Danica Patrick won today's Indy race in Japan. I'm glad. She's not the first woman to race open wheel but she's the first to have had a measure of success, and it's nice to see what has been an exclusively male club broken. She is fiercely competitive, gives as good as she gets, and has demonstrated a level of skill on a par with any of the men in Indy racing.
Besides, it's good for the sport.
What isn't good for the sport is the new rule the Indy racing league has put into place this year. Danica has to carry extra weight in her car to remove any advantage she gains by weighing in at 100 pounds, as compared to the heaviest driver who weighs in at 190 pounds. Some of the other drivers, including Mr. Heavyweight, have complained she can go faster because her car is lighter. I'll bet Charles Barkley wishes they'd have put that rule into effect in the NBA.
You've been in corporate America too long when...
- You ask the waitress what the restaurant's core competencies are.
- You decide to reorganize your family into a "team based organization."
- Your Valentine's Day card has bullet points.
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