Random Thoughts on Friday 1/13

• A lady in our church, Virginia Davidson, turned 100 today.  I always enjoy talking with Ms. Davidson and leave our conversations laughing about something she said.  I went to visit her today but she wasn’t home.  Walking to her apartment in the assisted living facility I wondered what it would be like to see a century.  Ironically today, the AJC posted an article about notable people born 100 years ago http://projects.accessatlanta.com/gallery/view/living/born-100-years-ago/.  

• A person I have gotten to know over the last few months died suddenly this week.  He was 41.  These are the sorts of things that make you assess how you spend your time, speak to your family, show your love and appreciation for others.  The death of a friend reminds us of how awful the curse of sin really is and how desperately we should long for the return of Christ and the final redemption in the new heaven and the new earth.  Jesus will make all of the things that are very wrong with this world right again.  Until then we must remain faithful even in disappointment.
  

• Tomorrow I am going to shoot a shotgun with Gene.  I have never pulled the trigger on anything more powerful than a Daisy air pump BB gun.  Gene is taking me to shoot at skeet.  He said that the skeet will be 30 yards away and traveling at 45 miles per hour.  Gene thinks I am going to actually hit one.  I love people who have great faith in their pastor.

• Alabama won another national championship this week.  The entire state got new T-shirts.  

• I started playing Words with Friends on my iPhone.  I think I have friends who cheat.

• I have found a new favorite coffee formula.  1 medium McDonald’s coffee with 3 coffee mate vanilla creamers.

• I started reading Bonhoeffer’s biography again this week.  The first 120 pages contain important background information but they are a tough read containing every tedious detail about Bonhoeffer’s formative years except the color of the shirts he wore on Tuesdays.  The book gets interesting on page 121 as Bonhoeffer experiences a “conversion” of sorts.  Though he was a Christian academic it seems that his experiences in America (both its hypocrisy and its preaching) helped him form a sense of true conviction about the teachings of Christ.  I go into the weekend reading about the rise of Hitler in Germany and Bonhoeffer’s early response.  I only have about 400 pages left and I will finish the book.  Since 2012 is the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar Bonhoeffer’s bio may be the last book I read before the planet blows up.