tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73991452026-02-20T02:40:12.920+03:00all kinds of time...A rock. Me. A hard place.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.comBlogger674125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-73848332603382659632014-05-08T21:25:00.002+03:002014-05-08T21:32:50.667+03:00
What is so important about the idea of necessary suffering? Why is it necessary?
The question of why is suffering necessary is probably the greatest and most problematic question in Christian theology. Why is there suffering? How is God good if there’s so much suffering on this Earth? There’s no answer that appeals to the rational mind. The answer lies elsewhere; I’m going to therefore start Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-82537473863635778812013-02-14T23:56:00.001+03:002013-02-14T23:56:35.852+03:00
Nigh on 4 months ago I thought we'd be moving soon. How misled and naive I was back then. Yet even now I am too lazy to figure out how to get the double dots over the "i" in naive.
I haven't written about one single country in Africa, as I intended. Maybe I'll start doing that now that things are crazy and we're moving to Kuala Lumpur.
Did I mention we're moving to Malaysia?
I don't think Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-39933524427180264212012-10-18T00:58:00.000+03:002012-10-18T00:58:14.824+03:00
It looks like my time in Africa may be coming to a soon end, at least for the time being. I didn't realize it this past August, but the middle of that month marked 5 years from when I first came over. That was a fast 5 years.
I won't go into what's next yet because it is still in the works, but I expect the works to work relatively fast at this point.
In the meantime, it is time to start Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-39357739581644293642012-06-28T07:11:00.000+03:002012-06-28T07:11:09.634+03:00
This isn't going to be one of those "I'm going to start blogging again!" blog posts.
I am tired. Really tired. The past 4 out of 5 weeks I have spent away from home, 2 in Pakistan, 1 in Chad, 1 here in Los Angeles. Islamabad wasn't that bad but being in the US again, albeit briefly and pretty much only for work, is so, so damn nice.
You have everything. Everything works. Nothing is broken. BigDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-13418395097803631772011-03-18T11:19:00.001+03:002011-03-18T11:26:41.939+03:00Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-72728339996078596452011-03-16T12:35:00.001+03:002011-03-16T12:38:36.421+03:00From the moment the invaders arrived, breathed our air, ate and drank, they were doomed. They were undone, destroyed, after all of man's weapons and devices had failed, by the tiniest creatures that God in his wisdom put upon this earth. By the toll of a billion deaths, man had earned his immunity, his right to survive among this planet's infinite organisms. And that right is ours against all Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-87037474592014121712011-02-17T11:48:00.002+03:002011-02-17T11:53:42.255+03:00“It was in a church in Munich that I saw him — a balding, heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.“It was the truth they needed Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-27200814677651539332011-02-04T11:19:00.000+03:002011-02-04T11:20:45.334+03:00“When we recall the distance and dissimilarity between us and God, it is easy to wonder whether we have the ability to pray and whether coming into God’s presence is a good idea anyway.Not only does God know that prayer is daunting, but it is even a biblical doctrine that we are not in ourselves equipped for it: Romans 8:26 says, ‘We do not know what to pray for as we ought.’ That same passage Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-35724669475510433762010-12-03T20:23:00.000+03:002010-12-03T20:24:03.241+03:00Start with a cage containing five monkeys.In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.After a while, another monkey will make an attempt with the same response - all of the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Keep this upDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-79121188748474902802010-11-08T09:52:00.017+03:002010-11-08T16:46:42.929+03:00In a desperate attempt to defib my erstwhile blog back to some semblance of an animate entity, I uploaded a bunch of my photos taken with the blackberry, and they go back a long way (almost 2 years now). I present them in reverse chronological order, starting with this past weekend.This is what trying to get a SIM card on a Saturday morning. In Addis Ababa.This is what I'm hoping will be my next Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-59235607507192976472010-04-26T14:34:00.000+03:002010-04-26T15:36:52.227+03:00Its now April and I am still finding less time than ever to blog. Right now, however, I am trapped in a car for the next 4 hours, and I have my blackberry. Not the most ideal way to type but it gets the job done.We - my Congolese driver and I - are shooting along a ridge-line road, half an hour outside of Kigali on our way north to Ruhengeri, then from there west to Goma, a large border town on Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-70051700638999429532010-03-30T17:12:00.004+03:002010-03-30T19:35:23.482+03:00Blogger tells me I haven't been on this thing since January 20th. Some start this year is off to.I suppose in my last post I wrote my update up to the point of something that's a bit difficult to write about, in that I don't really feel I could do it justice.My grandfather, Dr. J. Paul Schweinfurth, died January 7th, 2010. I'm posting the obit text here under the passing thought that perhaps my Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-64199775842222899052010-01-20T07:32:00.003+03:002010-01-20T07:47:54.033+03:00Been over a month since I last wrote on this thing. Since then, I've gone from Kigali to Nairobi to Dubai to London to Paris to Munich to Vienna to Geneva to Paris to London to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to Sacramento to Los Angeles to London to Dubai and that is where I am right now. And if all goes well I will be home in Nairobi this afternoon for the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-89440221800897801202009-12-15T20:26:00.002+03:002009-12-18T08:24:31.112+03:00Well. This year went fast.I think I've worked in something like 15 or more countries this year. I've definitely traveled to at least that many, most for work. Many of them multiple times - Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania - certainly in and out of Kenya a countless number of times. At some point you start to lose track. Its like that opening scene from Fight Club, except the airports are all the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-32412490907916192412009-12-06T14:48:00.004+03:002009-12-09T16:53:54.044+03:00This past Saturday I went to see 2 of the genocide memorial sites about 25k outside of Kigali. I took Kaarli - one of my friends from Nairobi who's also here for work for a couple weeks, and Leonard - one of my colleagues from work here with me for this project. This post will not be easy to read.The guide books gave some warning before hand but nothing could have really prepared me for the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-34915079572834318712009-11-26T20:00:00.003+03:002009-11-26T20:11:09.800+03:00Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-71435648872648491212009-11-11T08:51:00.002+03:002009-11-11T09:20:18.608+03:00John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday.On CNN both last night - before his execution, and this morning - after, the reporter told us both that he would, and then did, pay for the lives he took, with his own. She used almost the exact same words both times, in the future tense and then in the past. It struck me both times: how is that Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-24562688773684075612009-11-02T18:11:00.000+03:002009-11-03T12:09:47.512+03:00I'm in Korogwe, which is here.I'm pretty sure I've found the only internet shack in this tiny no-stoplight town. We're about 4 hours east of Arusha, on our way to Dar Es Salaam in the morning. In Tanzania, for those keeping score. I drove my truck from Nairobi to Arusha for about 4 weeks of work with our National Office here, which is based in Arusha. After 2 weeks at the NO, we're now headed outDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-11078994744112035542009-10-04T15:07:00.004+03:002009-10-04T21:20:25.481+03:00My church has been working through a series on relationships lately, the past few weeks have been focused on things like attraction and dating, courtship and intimacy (missed that week when I was out at Naivasha), sex, and today they were due to move into marriage, but they threw a curveball.When it came time for the sermon, the same pastor and wife who last week talked on sex (a talk in which, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-9022860718679367232009-09-27T15:04:00.002+03:002009-09-27T15:13:29.387+03:00Lazy Sunday afternoon for a change and I'm finally writing...also for a change. Only really 2 things...1. A while back I wrote about Don Dawson, the guy who left his life in the US to go search for his brother who had gone missing in action in Vietnam. I turned up a good deal more than I originally thought I would, including having a commenter offer to send me an original copy of the actual Life Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-861873427177467312009-09-16T21:34:00.002+03:002009-09-16T21:42:41.525+03:00If the blog looks a bit different, that's because it is. Blogger made some overhauls to their user interface for blog formatting, which as far as I can tell adds significant levels of coding on the back end that make it less likely that I'm finally going to figure out all the HTML and CSS anytime in the near future. Which makes it less likely that I'm going to get around to getting my own site upDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-39693419670657613902009-09-11T15:12:00.002+03:002009-09-11T15:37:28.635+03:00As the fireman said:Don't book a room over the fifth floorin any hotel in New York.They have ladders that will reach furtherbut no one will climb them.As the New York Times said:The elevator always seeks outthe floor of the fireand automatically opensand won't shut.These are the warningsthat you must forgetif you're climbing out of yourself.If you're going to smash into the sky.Many times I've Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-75412841312675811612009-09-03T16:10:00.002+03:002009-09-03T16:17:57.574+03:00A friend writing about the Sabbath reminded me of this article today. I like the end of it in particular:Whenever I dream of living in a society with a greater respect for its Sabbatarian past -- a fantasy I entertain only with anxiety, since Sabbatarians have a long history of going too far -- I think of something two rabbis said. Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, best known for his tales of the golemDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-45917145492944271772009-08-27T15:55:00.001+03:002009-09-02T19:58:49.527+03:00Well, Haiti's going to be over before I finally get around to writing about it, so it's high time I get around to writing about it. I'm just going to go semi-chronological-probably-mostly-stream-of-consciousness on this one and see where we end up.Flew here on a Sunday morning from NYC. Lunch in the hotel, and I realized I was once again eating salad in the third world again. Can't trust the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7399145.post-5066681040338422872009-08-07T06:42:00.003+03:002009-08-07T07:21:16.579+03:00Vacation blogging.First off, there's a thing about my blogging. I fell behind in emails with more than a couple people recently, and as I've been trying to get around to telling them all - my blog has become something of a barometer of my free time / ability to have a personal life. Like, if I say, end up randomly working in 4 countries in as many weeks, and only have maybe 6 nights actually in Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16332355973177118320noreply@blogger.com4