a public apology to my wife

I’ve already begged my wife’s forgiveness on this matter, but I also wanted to make this public so I can be held accountable for it. At a recent place of employment, I feel my wife was not given her due. Her insight, intelligence and organization was not held in high regard because she wasn’t an academic like her supervisors.

The way they looked at her caused me to defend her, as I didn’t want anyone treating her like that. I have learned, however, that my very defence can come across as “degrading” because I’ll do it around people who aren’t questioning her intelligence at all. For example, among some friends, I said something like, “My wife is very insightful, though she may not use sixteen syllable words to express it.” Someone mentioned that it sounded like a backhanded insult, like I was saying she wasn’t well-spoken. It wasn’t at all what I’d meant, and the exact OPPOSITE of my intention!

Therefor, I apologize to my wife for anything I’ve ever said that made her feel that she was less that what she is. She is an intelligent, insightful, thoughtful, compassionate, and way too good for the lowly likes of me. God knows I don’t deserve her. My wife is an amazing physical expression of God’s Grace, second only to Jesus’ sacrefice on my behalf. Therefor not only to I apologize to her, but I ask you, my witnesses, to call me on it should I ever say anything that makes it seem like I think any less of her than what I’ve just expressed. Help me to make my heart more visible.

grades

While I was complaining about completely tanking a Greek vocabulary quiz the other day, I did manage a 59/60 on a very lengthy parsing/translation assignment. I lost a point from zipping though it, parsed a noun as plural but forgot to put the inflected meaning in plural. Doh! I’m not ready to begin the Radically New Pete-ite Translation (RNPT) yet.

I also managed an 88% on my Psychology mid-midterm, which isn’t as good as I would have liked, but I’m not overly dissapointed with it. Hopefully I can afford to keep coming, which isn’t looking very good.

acadia christian fellowship

This Friday I’ll be speaking at the ACF large-group meeting on what it means to dedicate one’s self to the apostles teachings (Acts 2:42) and extending that outward to discipleship, which should be pretty good. I have quite a bit to live up to though, considering the email they sent out:

This Friday, Pete Freckleton will be speaking on the teaching aspect of our theme verse – “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” Acts 2:42. Pete is currently a student in the Bachelor of Theology who has a passion for studying and teaching. He currently leads a Sunday school class on apologetics at New Minas Baptist Church, and is also involved with the youth group. Along with school, he works at a local software development company and has several websites, such as www.justpete.ca and http://www.walrusgiggles.com/. He’s a fascinating teacher and a good friend to many of the students at Acadia, so come out to hear what he has to say!

Wow – I almost want to go see me speak! That guy sounds pretty cool! Anyway, it should be a good time, and I hope we get to play another fun game like last week.

you mean, the new testament might be true?

For the past 20 years or so, it’s become increasingly popular to jump on the neo-Christian bandwagon, claiming scholarly insight, and making bold claims about the historicity of the Bible, Jesus, or any number of peripheral issues that would call into question traditional, orthodox Christian beliefs. It’s a major money-maker! Do you think Dan Brown chose his content on a whim? Absolutely not! There is no doubt in my mind that he knew it would be a bestseller. Why, even when I was a budding author of fiction (and a rabid atheist to boot) my first venture into a full-length novel was a fictional account of how the Roman Catholic church suppressed certain writings. Now, I was only a teenager, prior to films like “Stigmata” and I’d never even heard of The Jesus Seminars. I just though the idea would be racey enough to catch the attention of the reader. I mean, come on… when I was an atheist, I loved seeing organized religion getting a good kick in the teeth! If there’s an atheist/agnostic who doesn’t, then they’re dishonest.

Tonight I got a brilliant opportunity. As a student in the Bachelor of Theology program, I do not yet have much access to the more advanced classes (except Greek – no way were they going to keep me out of Greek), so our guest speaker tonight was a real treat. Having just recently listened to the debate between Dr. James White and Dr. John Dominic Crosson on the historical accounts of the NT, and having seen scholar after scholar take a drive down the lane of pop-theology, drinking heavily at the trough of tabloid-scholarship, not necessarily staying there for long, but certainly cashing in on the 15 minutes of controversial fame that’s there for the taking.

I’m sure folks like my friend Dr. White, who’s ministry is committed to offering an answer for the hope they have, regardless of who’s asking – be they inside the sheep-pen or outside – have gradually become more and more convinced that conservative, orthedox Christian scholarship is a dinosaur that we’re left to mourn. I’m happy to say “Not so!” I’ve made mention of Dr. Craig Evans on my blog before in association with his appearance on Dateline in the midst of the whole Passion of the Christ hype. Tonight, he was the guest professor for my Intro to New Testament course, and it was an absolute joy, pleasure and worthy of praises to God.

He started off by DIRECTLY talking about the so-called scholarship of the Jesus Seminar folks, and went into a brief look at the four big pseudo-gospels that they rave about (namely Thomas, Egerton , Secret Mark, Peter, and Mary), and successfully demonstrating the foolishness underlying some of the claims of the supports. He launched from that into a quick overview of the common extra-biblical citations (Josephus, Pliney, etc), followed by a quick survey of some of the foggy New Testament passages that are clarified with Old Testament understanding, especially with the additional insight offered by the Qumran manuscripts.

Dr. Craig Evans demonstrates a clear love of scripture, and the glorious message of grace contained therein. He’s also not just some stuffy scholar, but is absolutely hilarious. His teaching style is very much like mine, actually – much animation and joke-cracking with a healthy dose of sarcasm here and there… except, he actually knows what he’s talking about Go buy one of his many books!

things i didn’t know

I guess I’m not very up to date on matters of sensory perception, because I’m here studying for my psychology test, and came across a neat little tidbit. I’ve always been aware of the four primary taste sensations (sweet, sour, salty & bitter) but I had no idea there was a fifth one. Discovered by Japanese Professor Kikunae Ikeda way back in 1907, the fifth taste sensation could best be described as ’savory,’ and he’d identified it in a seaweed broth. After boiling down large quantities of the broth, he managed to extract glutamic acid crystals. This amino acid, glutamate, had a distictive taste, which Ikeda named “umami.”

Ikeda then began work on developing a seasoning out of the glutamate, which nessesitated good storage properties. A seasoning that absorbs ambient moisture, or requires vacuum storage really isn’t practical to use in cooking. Hence, he created monosodium glutamate (MSG) which has no smell or specific texture, and therefor only enhances the savoury quality of food’s natural tastes.

The existance of the “umami” elementary taste has only been adopted over the past 15 years, let primarily by the Society for Research on Umami Taste. Anyway, I didn’t know any of that stuff, so I found it quite interesting (albeit distracting from my studies). So there you have it – that’s where MSG came from, and why asian restaurants are the primary users of it.

a weekend of blessings

I was struck this weekend by God’s working in the life of myself, and my family. He is so faithful, in spite of my own faithlessness, so I just wanted to take a second to thank God, and share the joys of His grace with anyone who reads this board.

On Friday morning I had the opportunity to hear Bill Davenport speak at chapel, which was awesome because it was the very first time I’ve been audience to his preaching. That’s kind of funny actually, considering we’ve been involved in lots of things together, and he’s been such an encouragement to me over these past five years. He brought us a valuable message on behalf of the Valley Care Pregnancy Centre, sharing the amazing value of human life when rightly understood as a divine creation. Friday evening I was treated to a night with the Acadia Christian Fellowship, which is always a pleasure. I was invited to speak next Friday on the subject of the apostle’s teaching, which I believe is not only being taught to us, but is a role-model for the kind of teaching we should strive to achieve. A teaching that is grounded in God’s truth, led by His Spirit, and testifies of His Son.

Saturday started off relatively laid-back, and I headed out to meet my brother, Dave and enjoy a coffee and time together, which always boosts my spirit. I then visited with my brother, Jean-Marc and we caught up a bit, and talked about our mutual love for teaching. Later, I managed to get my reading and written reflection done for my Christian Education class, and then blew off part of the evening playing video games with Alyssa.

Sunday, I was greeted by a few new faces in my Sunday school class, which always gets me excited. Two older members of my fellowship joined in, and it was just such a joy to have them there. I love the university group, and would happily stick with teaching them for the rest of my days, but I know it’s not healthy. I need to have more mature Christian check my work, and offer encouragement and correction, in order to become a better teacher, and a better disciple. The university group is very forgiving, and sometimes I fear they may not offer a rebuke when I may rightly deserve one. Accountability is a wonderful thing, and absolutely vital for anyone (even the crazed Sunday school teacher) who would lead God’s people.

I also received a little card from a family in the church who are very dear to us. I’m not going to name names, but I was so deeply touched by their act of kindness, that I lost control of my tear-ducts for a bit. My family’s commitment to full-time ministry – and it’s definitely my family’s commitment, even though I’m the one doing the homework – has been a strain on all of us. I don’t know if you’re aware, but university is expensive. We’ve been merrily making ends meet as a single-income family without too much difficulty, but the added expense of school has been a burden which has resulted in some, shall we say, creative living. Anyway, this family gave us a generous monetary gift, which was an amazing blessing to us. It made me realize with even greater clarity, “Yes, God’s taking us there. He’s driving this rig, and he’s going to get us to our destination.”

Tonight, I attended the commissioning service for our Pastor of Student Ministries, Jon Dixon. Jon is a great pastor, a good friend, and an amazing encouragement to Marsha, Alyssa and I. We love him, Sharalyn, Katie and Caleb (even though Caleb calls my daughter ‘Joe’) so much, and we thank God for bringing them into our lives, and into the lives of our youth.

my beloved

Ah my wife – she is underestimated all too often. I’ve never met someone so loving, so compassionate, so empathetic, so anxious to make others happy as my beloved wife. My wife is not a bookworm, nor is she one of those people who stores up trivia tidbits to share over tea, so she is sometimes underestimated by people who value those qualities. My wife is a “practical Christian,” meaning that she lives out the model of the “righteous” that Jesus presented through parable in Matthew 25:34-40:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

I love my wife. She completes me, and makes me a whole person. She is my heart, and is being used of God to make me more like Christ. One of the greatest things about my wife is that she knows I how I love her, and I know how she loves me. Because we were joined by God, we have never doubted our love and loyalty to one and other.

And to anyone who thinks she’s “not smart” or “easily manipulated” – Well, I guess you just don’t really know her.
I love you Marsha, my wife.

personal conviction

A quick retraction on my posting from Sunday: I was trying to communicate my personal conviction, since I’m not a “schmoozer” at all, and need to work at becoming a more outgoing people-person. However, my post made it sound like I was bashing my congregation around a bit. I’ve edited the post to make it clear, but I really appreciate the comments and emails I recieved offering alternate viewpoints.

Keep me honest, folks! Keep me on track! I love it!

Greek Fonts

Here’s those Greek fonts again in a self-extracting archive for Keezer and anyone else who was having problems with the zip files.

Download the Greek Fonts

Just double click the file, select “Unzip” and it should automatically toss them in your Windows Fonts folder. You may have to open the fonts folder (Start –> Control Panel –> Fonts) once so that Windows knows they are there.

double your worship

Well, today was the first Sunday for my church’s consecutive services. In order to make space, we’ve started have two morning services, one at 9:15am and one at 11am. All in all, it went pretty well. Sure, there were lots of growing pains, but that was to be expected.

My Sunday school class today wasn’t as big as I’d hoped, and there weren’t many older folks there, but it still went fairly well. Marsha had to sit outside our new children’s ministry (The Orchard) and sign people in/out, so I decided to sit someplace new instead of warming our usual seats. So, I hung out with the university students up in the front row, and chatted for a while.

Then something really cool happened. Well, it was actually pretty bad, but then turned cool. As we were talking and laughing, a young woman behind us said, “As someone who’s pretty new to this church, I have to tell you guys… I’ve been coming here for like almost a year, and nobody’s ever even said ‘hi’ to me.” She was clearly not happy about it, and I don’t blame her. I take that personally. *I* failed that young woman. Sure, you could make the arguement that she normally sits on the opposite side of me, and I probably just never ran into her before. So what?! I saw her today! I watched her sit down behind us, and I didn’t know who she was, nor did I ask.

The cool thing about it is, she could have just walked out of there. Nobody would have thought less of her if she had. In fact, most would have felt she was perfectly justified in walking out. Instead, she gave me a second chance, and told me about the issue. In doing that, she provided a witness to me in giving second chances. Anyway, we started talking, and it turns out her Christian experience isn’t overly different from my own. Her name is Kelly, and hopefully she’s going to come to my Sunday school class next week.

If you see a face you don’t recognize, or a face that you recognize, but can’t remember their name – stop, and ask.