Archive for February, 2008

Watching a Shuttle Launch

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

And now, in a bit of a departure from the normal ruminations on theology and culture . . .

As many of you probably already know, I’m an aspiring aviator. Actually, I guess I’m technically an aviator, however, I’m not entirely comfortable with using the term to describe myself. For me, any use of the word “aviator” conjures up images of Ernest Gann or Saint Exupery, beside which I rank only as the basest of beginners – in aeronautical ability as well as literary prowess. I’ve had my pilot’s license for a few years now and have built a plane, which so far has not flown, but it’s done now and will fly in a couple weeks, barring any unforeseen complications.

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Practicing the Presence of People

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

A few years back, I read Mike Mason’s Practicing the Presence of People – it’s a great book, and I have a history of recommending it to just about anyone that will let me tell them what I think they should be reading. In any case, a few folks that I know are reading through it. and we’ve been discussing it on a regular basis, so it was time to blow the dust off the cover and flip through it again – a bit of a refresher was in order, as I wanted to be able to participate in the discussion with some degree of intelligence, and I don’t retain this sort of stuff quite as well as I would like to.

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