I Need to Find a Better Scanner

Some recent sketches:

Expelled

Laura’s dad got tickets to the world premier of the movie Expelled showing in Dallas last night. Since his wife didn’t want to go, he took Laura. They got dressed up and had a great time (even though Laura has been sick as of late). They had good things to say of the movie which, helmed by Ben Stein, is a documentary trying to expose the persecution against the intelligent design movement. I’ll probably see it soon and have a better review then. Some pics:


Fuzzy picture of Ben Stein
Myself as the chauffer for the night

High School

In honor of Brian successfully becoming a dad, I decided I would post some high school pictures just as a reminder of how far he has come in life over the past ten years. To get more details on the adoption go to his or Janelle's blog.



I have much more if anybody is interested. (Rachel, let Randy know that I was very close to posting his baggy pants immpression picture but that I decided against it)

Life in the City

We had a good weekend with a lot of time spent in both Dallas and Fort Worth. In Dallas we discovered a great little grocery store/cafe that was straight out of Europe (complete with Kinder candy, Bueno bars, bottles of mead, a fresh bakery, really narrow isles, and German cola). It was a great find and actually brought tears to Laura’s eyes when she found the Bueno bars.

In Fort Worth we did our usual museum hopping, seeing an alright exhibition at the modern by Martin Puryear, and then visited the Water gardens. A brief visit to the Kimbell was a reminder of both how great their permanent collection is and specifically how much I like Caravaggio. So I leave you with a few peices of this brawling Italian’s art:

Cardsharps (currently owned by the Kimbell)

The Conversion of Saint Paul on the Road to Damascus

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

The Calling of Saint Matthew

Brothers

My brother, Heath, is being deployed for Afghanistan sometime in the wee hours tomorrow morning. I ask for any prayer that you or your churches have to give. Please pray for:

-his physical, mental, and spiritual safety
-his leadership and decision making
-the stability and peace of Afghanistan
-his direct and indirect leaders that they make good decisions and strive to find peace
-for his growth as a man of God

Also pray for his wife, Christina, who will have minimal contact with him most of the time in which he is over there. Pray for her edification, strength, and comfort. It is very much appreciated.

Sustainability, the mature environmentalism

Any architect today knows about sustainability (specifically LEED). From our point of view it is how “green” buildings are. How much storm water run-off the building has, how reflective the roof is, how much of the insulation is made up of post consumer waste, how much day lighting is allowed, and the list goes on (and on). I am studying for the certification test right now and the binder is a couple of inches thick, chalked full of very boring material.

Going through the material, I have been pleasantly surprised that most of it is comprised of very practical, very smart issues that should be addressed when designing any building. It usually inserts an opportunity to think about buildings for their entire life and how their life and death better interact with the world around them.

I hate that ideas like environmentalism have been high jacked by extremists who at best worship the environment and at their worst hate man for ever existing. Contrasted, the philosophy of sustainability is as mature as environmentalism gets. It is about balancing our relationship with our environment through both understanding our impact on it and providing better conditions for both our lives and the environment. IMO Christianity should be jumping all over this new terminology of sustainability, but I am probably still in the minority when it comes to the church having anything to do with environmental issues.

Some Questions:

Does the idea of sustainability have any place of importance within the church? Not just passively but should we be actively putting time, energy, and recourses to understanding and maintaining our natural world?

As a church member what would your reaction be to hearing that your new church building was trying to be LEED certified? Would you think that the church is throwing money away, money that should be used to not incur debt, pay the pastor, or go to missions?