think hard, think well

After 34 hours of travel, I have arrived safely in South Africa.

I waas in the Netherlands for a total of foour hours yesterday (thus the straange doouble vowels). I have three observations about my experience in Schiphol Airport.

First, for someone who speaks a little German, Dutch sounds very strange. My Austrian friend put it well: "It’s like they can’t decide whether they want to speak German or English, so it’s somewhere in the middle."

Second, there are these awesome little handcarts for luggage distributed about the airport–all for free. It’s so much better than US airports, where you have to pay $2-$4 to use a cart. When I stopped at the little art museum in the airport, I just left my cart outside–and when I came out a half-hour later, someone else had left one and I took it. It’s great–they’re everywhere.

Third, they will address you by name on the paging system and call you out for being late to your flight. Several times I heard in various languages successively: "Passengers Jan and Maria Kees, on flight KL0123 to Dubai: you are delaying your flight’s departure. Please proceed to Gate F5 immediately." Now EVERYONE in the airport knows about your little troubles on the toilet…

Stay tuned for more on my Cape Town experience…

During spring of my senior year in high-school, the US and a few allies invaded Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein’s repeated defiance of the UN resolutions requiring him to submit his weapons programs to inspection (so you don’t have to do the math, I’m 26 now). Many leftists opposed the war at the time, while conservatives, influenced by neo-conservative ideals, largely supported the war. Eight years, billions of dollars and many thousands of military and civilian casualties later, we are still in Iraq, even though President Obama promised a withdrawal.

President Bush’s reasons for going into Iraq made sense to me at the time. In retrospect, and after ten years of observing the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, I’ve become more non-interventionist in my leanings. I don’t think we have the power to affect much democratic change from the outside, particularly in Islamic nations. I don’t think that there’s much we can do to make Islamic nations more friendly toward us; in fact, the more we intervene in their affairs, the more power the terrorists’ narrative of creeping American hegemony gains traction.

Turning the the present situation in Libya, I think it’s very strange that leftists are now supporting US-led military action in support of the rebels against Qaddafi (or however you spell his name). Conservatives, on the other hand, have tended to oppose this action in support of so-called "freedom fighters." The similarities between Iraq and Libya are very similar: a brutal dictator, tolerated for years by a powerless/hypocritical UN, oppressing his people, who now have a chance at liberation.

Leftists accused Bush of going to war for oil in Iraq; conservatives accuse Obama of political opportunism. Both presidents justified their actions on humanitarian grounds. Bush prosecuted the war without much support at all from congress; Obama has not obtained congressional approval according to the constitution.

The real difference between Iraq and Libya is this:
Bush (R)
Obama (D)

The whole thing is just fascinating. In most arenae of public discourse, thoughtful assessment of moral and social principles and ethical concerns has given way to "my guy, vs. the-other-guy-who-hates-America-and-wants-children-and-puppies-to-die."

Again, my fraternal pride balloons to imperial proportions.

My sister, Rebekah Devine, has been informed that her paper, tentatively titled, “Made With Hands: The Gods of the Nations in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians,” has been accepted to be read at the First St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies. Papers will be selected from this conference to be published in a forthcoming volume, including a keynote by N.T. Wright.

I maintain that being related to someone published in an anthology with Tom Wright is almost as cool as touching the hem of his garment.

Name that film:

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed–but can you ever be just whelmed?” “I think you can in Europe.”

According to the dictionary, ‘whelmed’ is pretty much the same thing as ‘overwhelmed.’ Either way, that’s how I’ve felt the last few months, and I’m still in the thick of it. In December, the dean of PBU’s Bible department, Herb Hirt, asked me to take over a January-term class on the book of Isaiah. Faced with such a great opportunity to get some teaching experience, needless to say–like the Russian billionaire in the DirecTV commercials–“I jump een eet!”

After January, I spent much of February writing a paper for the Evangelical Theological Society meeting. That experience was very rewarding, because I was able to use quite a bit of what I’d been reading in preparation for my oral exams. Tomorrow I fly to Wisconsin to teach Pauline Epistles at PBU’s wilderness campus. When I get back, I fly out five days later for two weeks in Stellenbosch.

As exciting as all these experiences are, I’m sort of looking forward to getting back home and starting on my thesis in late April. I’ve also been thinking lately about not jumping right into doctoral work immediately after finishing my MTh in November (d.v.). There’s so much I haven’t read; I want to come up to speed on NT studies, and study some more philosophy. I used to discount philosophy as simply theology’s clumsy handmaiden–but that was foolish. I also want to read through the entire Bible in the original languages.

Of course, if I were not in school or teaching or writing papers, I would be disappointed that I didn’t have these excellent and exciting tasks. The grass is always greener…

What would you read if you suddenly had more time? Oh yeah–and, name that film.

Last night I had the privilege of playing in a concert celebrating the release of an album by one of my best friends, Gordon Gregory. Given how busy I’ve been lately, I had told Gordon several months ago that I wouldn’t be able to devote the kind of practice time he would like leading up to the event. But I got a call from Gordon yesterday at 2pm; his bassist for the evening (also a friend of mine) had gotten food poisoning, and he needed a pinch-hitter.

So, as sorry I am that Mark got sick, I got the best deal: I didn’t have to practice, but I still got to play. It was a great night–quite a good crowd. And we’re all very pleased with how the CD turned out. It’s called Between Redemption and the Pain, and you can hear it here and on iTunes, I believe.

I’ve been playing with Gordon (and playing his songs) since first semester of freshman year–eight years ago. Since then, we’ve grown up, graduated, married excellent (older!) women, ministered in two different churches together, been coworkers in cubicles for the Man, and had cute sons. This CD reflects the musical, lyrical and spiritual growth in Gordon’s life during that time, much of which he has shared with me along the way.

Out of all the great songs on his CD, I think the one that affects me the most each time I hear it is Healed (see lyrics below). Gordon shared the song with me when he first wrote it two years ago; he had just experienced a death in the family, and certainly anyone who listens will identify with it immediately. To put it all Reformed-ish-like: he captures the tension between inaugurated and realized eschatology. We long for healing in our bodies, our relationships and our planet.

Maranatha.

Healed

It’s hard to find the right words to express the way I feel
How can God be called a healer, when He chooses not to heal
And the questions tend to linger in the recess of my heart
How can I begin to reconcile the sovereignty of God
But You remind me that my eyes can only see the smallest part
And that the glorious sunrise can only come after the dark

We will see a day when all our suffering will be redeemed
Where finite faith will be replace by sight
Where Your glory is revealed
In each relationship restored and every sickness finally healed

My faith can be quite fragile through the heartache and the pain
So keep sending me Your rainbows to remind me once again
That although this life is broken and the earth is stained with sin
You will bring a resurrection to a life that never ends
So now for those of us who dwell between redemption and the pain
Would You heal our broken hearts with the hope found in Your name

We will see a day when all our suffering will be redeemed
Where finite faith will be replace by sight
Where Your glory is revealed
In each relationship restored and every sickness finally healed

And even though they’re scarred, He still holds the world in His hands
So that those with broken hearts have someone who understands
The pain of separation but the joy of resurrection

We will see a day when all our suffering will be redeemed
Where finite faith will be replace by sight
Where Your glory is revealed
In each relationship restored and every sickness finally healed

Words and Music by G. Gordon Gregory III
© 2008, Biodegradable Music

In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby–a self-described "believing Jew"–summarizes my own feelings toward the Christian left.

The schedule for the Eastern Regional Conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, hosted by PBU, has been posted here. The keynote speaker is Dinesh D’Souza, who will be speaking Thursday evening, March 3, as well as during the conference on March 4.

My paper, tentatively titled, “How Lonely Sits the Text: Lamentations 2 and a Pattern For Evangelical Appropriation of Postmodern Biblical Studies," is scheduled for 9:00am.

Here are some pictures my mom took a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!