The Arrow's Path

I admit I am a crank when it comes to college football. I used to be really into it, but these days, I could really care less about it. I think it has become all about the money and there is just no joy in Big Time College football anymore for me. People take it way too seriously. Until it can be to me just a game again, I doubt I will ever go back to watching it with any regularity. None of this is to say that I don't keep an eye on what's going on. I read pre-season reports and generally take note of who wins and loses. That is about the extent of my involvement anymore. Largely, I only do that because I am once again in Big Red country, though somewhat removed from the Lincoln "Any Given Saturday" in the fall spectacle. I mainly just read enough to be able to discuss the topic demi-coherently if it comes up in conversation with extended family or locals. I just cannot bring myself to follow a Big Ten team. I have tried and tried to get past my Southern prejudice,

I have watched with some interest how the present White House administration is handling the whole Syria civil war thing. I will be frank: I do not envy them. That is one of those situations in foreign policy where you have several options and all of the bad. You can choose the pit of lions, tigers, or cobras. In Syria, the US and the World basically has three options. One, we can intervene on the side of President Assad or we can intervene on the side of the rebels or we can intervene under the guise of UN neutrality, we can indirectly be involved by arming one side or the other, or we can choose to do absolutely nothing and let it all play out. The Western world so far as chosen to largely sit it out. Russia, Iran, and the Palestinian Hezb'allah (Army of God) seem to be arming or actively helping Assad. Many of the Arab states like Saudi Arabia seem to be arming the rebels. The US and probably others have likely been sending aid and even weapons to the rebels, though

A very interesting blog here from a former minister . It is reposted on an Orthodox blog, but from the language and parlance of the article, I am assuming it is Protestant in origin. The author makes some interesting points. Some of the points are right on the money. I do disagree with the Mama's Boy comment. I don't understand that. Most ministers I know with whom I am close friends are actually pretty close to their fathers, with a few exceptions. Most ineffectual ministers I know are, in fact, mama's boys or girls. I may blog about this again in the future. I have been doing some reading on this very topic of late. The "spiritually starving" comment struck close to home. I very much had to be careful not to get burned about about things spiritual. Ministers and priests are excellent at isolating themselves from other ministers or spiritual directors because there are always other things to do that need to be done. My first 4 or so years in ministry, I said

Very interesting article from the BBC .

So, a guy shows up to make a bid on cleaning the office carpet. Besides looking like he needs a stunt double to walk down the hall, he kept talking (for 15 minutes straight) about needs to get a "die cast funnel" for a "water borne cleaning agent" that "repels dirt." Then he leaves without giving me a bid. Methinks someone has been sniffing too much cleaning solvent.

Yeah, we've seen this before .

I have been somewhat curious as to what will befall Edward Snowden, the former NSA guy who handed over some sort of secrets/info and blew the whistle on the American Government's spying on American phone records and has until last week been living in the Moscow Airport terminal trying to avoid extradition to the US. I have had mixed feelings about this whole interesting case because it brings up so many interesting moral questions in relation to one's duty as a citizen of both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Man. Now, let me be clear. I have no earthly idea if Edward Snowden is a Christian or if he has any moral compass one way or the other. The way he has been portrayed by some media, he is a hero who was honestly trying to shed light on illegal government activities, much like those involved in the famous Pentagon Papers blew the lid off of American involvement in Vietnam and subsequently started the investigation in Watergate during the Nixon administration.

I ran across this reflection here by another fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, though he is Orthodox.

I found this story reading through some old church bulletins on line. Don't know much about it, but it's a good story. -The Archer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Truce In the Forest"   by Fritz Vincken Fritz Vincken "It was Christmas Eve, and the last, desperate German offensive of World War II raged around our tiny cabin. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door... " When we heard the knock on our door that Christmas Eve in 1944, neither Mother nor I had the slightest inkling of the quiet miracle that lay in store for us. I was 12 then, and we were living in a small cottage in the Hürtgen Forest, near the German-Belgian border. Father had stayed at the cottage on hunting weekends before the war; when Allied bombers partly destroyed our hometown of Aachen, he sent us to live there. He had been ordered into the civil-defense fire guard in the border town of Monschau, four miles away. "You'll be

Camera actually catches light moving .