tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.comments2023-09-23T09:30:44.087-04:00Joffre The GiantJoffre The Gianthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comBlogger1770125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-39547720964861754582018-02-08T22:38:13.680-05:002018-02-08T22:38:13.680-05:00Good thing it did, though, it was definitely neces...Good thing it did, though, it was definitely necessary. Glad you liked the article!Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-67330279189621033222018-02-08T15:03:05.120-05:002018-02-08T15:03:05.120-05:00Your thinking happy thoughts has caused happy thou...Your thinking happy thoughts has caused happy thoughts to happen in my head. <br /><br />Also, I kept expecting hapless to show up, but it didn't (until this happy moment).Joshua Butcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05762961484152028177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-12741854629120181652017-12-20T15:51:54.966-05:002017-12-20T15:51:54.966-05:00Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be a grinch about it...Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be a grinch about it! :-)Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-81364648207980493322017-12-09T19:54:50.877-05:002017-12-09T19:54:50.877-05:00Frosty the snowman. Sorry 🎶😂 I actually like the...Frosty the snowman. Sorry 🎶😂 I actually like the one I have.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00045166904657632324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-56697019103136654212017-10-10T17:09:51.581-04:002017-10-10T17:09:51.581-04:00Rock on.
Rock on.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11549919540157687067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-23787233181773389142017-10-01T11:05:54.485-04:002017-10-01T11:05:54.485-04:00I don't know why that surprises me, but it doe...I don't know why that surprises me, but it does...Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-15421055585268124442017-09-30T23:31:26.555-04:002017-09-30T23:31:26.555-04:00Wow, Chuck McKnight has really gone off the deep e...Wow, Chuck McKnight has really gone off the deep end. He was a student at BJU when I was there. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08163824356555626910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-51155186834499257662017-09-26T19:46:39.329-04:002017-09-26T19:46:39.329-04:00Moving.
And how often we shape our prayers to wha...Moving.<br /><br />And how often we shape our prayers to what we think God will or won't do for us.Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-13706910496758063062017-09-24T23:52:25.687-04:002017-09-24T23:52:25.687-04:00This morning, after much cajoling last night, my w...This morning, after much cajoling last night, my wife and I drove her grandmother to her church. When we pulled up to the front of the church, I jumped out to open her door for her and to help her out. It was at that moment that I realized, though I'd hugged her often, I've never kissed her. With her weathered bible in her hands and a sad look on her face, she told me she loved me very much. I gave her as big of a bear hug as I could without hurting her, then kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her too. As she turned to walk into her church for the first time alone, I saw, waiting outside the front door, were Mario and Plácido, her husband’s two best friends. They came to her, stood on either side, and offered their arms. She smiled and was escorted inside. <br />Churches aren't their own beings. The church is just people. People let me down every day of my life. Why do I expect anything more from my church? As I smoke the Cuban cigar my mother-in-law gave me from her first trip back to her homeland since she was sixteen, drink the wine that my father-in-law introduced me to, and listen to the hum of the air conditioner units of the whole neighborhood, in the sweltering New Orleans early fall, I count to three. Three men. There are three men in the whole world that I could picture escorting my wife into our church after I'm gone, and I sigh, because none of them live here.<br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08163824356555626910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-73767726445221828182017-09-24T23:51:58.674-04:002017-09-24T23:51:58.674-04:00My in-laws call my family "the toast family.&...My in-laws call my family "the toast family." A southern white Baptist family, skirts for the girls and comb-overs for the boys. At dinner, our silverware clinking against the plates is the loudest sound in the room. Once, after being seated at a restaurant, the waiter reviewed the specials and asked for our drink order. After we all ordered water, he informed us the margaritas were $1 off. My mother, in a huff, said "No thank you, we don't drink or smoke. We're the good guys." With a chuckle, the waiter told us he would be back shortly, with some waters and some Bibles, to take our dinner order. <br />We are as dry and white as toast.<br />My in-laws are Cuban. When my wife and I were dating, I'd go to her house to spend time with her family. Her family's inside voices were the same volume that would have caused my mother to scold me had I been that loud playing outside. I often mistakenly assumed they were angry at each other until they broke into another peal of laughter. As boisterous as her family was, her grandfather was the loud one of the family. Before he escaped Cuba, he was a professional opera singer, and he could often be heard belting out a favorite aria when he wasn't telling everyone how things should be. <br />He died on September 6th, eighteen days ago, in the early morning, in the family home, with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law surrounding him. His congestive heart failure took him to the Lord he loved so much his whole life. <br />Like most immigrant families, the oldest generation spoke very little English, the second generation, having been born in Cuba but moved at a young age, spoke English and Spanish equally well, and the third generation, my wife and her sister, understands some Spanish, but only speaks English. Because of the language barrier, her grandparents and I had spoken very little. But they did so much to make me feel loved and welcomed. I couldn't come over, even for just a couple minutes, without her grandmother offering me black beans and rice or her grandfather giving me flan and cafe Cubano. In his last days, I took great joy in sitting with him and showing him YouTube videos of my favorite opera singers, telling him they were the best, and getting stern looks and finger wags from him before he showed me videos of his favorite singers. In the three months leading to his death, he was hardly able to get up from his chair to walk a few steps to the other side of the room to get circulation again. He and his wife were unable to attend a single church service at the Spanish church they regularly attended. His pastor visited him twice, but his friend Plácido visited him often.<br />The pastor of the church my wife, her parents, and I attend visited twice as well. My father-in-law is an elder. My wife and I are Sunday school teachers. We were assistants to the youth pastor even before we married, and then young adults teachers not long after we married a little over three years ago. No one in our church visited. Not a single elder texted, emailed, or called. Though we had been craving prayers, the Sunday before he passed away, before the service began, our pastor announced to the congregation that one of the church family was having frequent headaches and should be in our prayers. There was never a word for prayer for my wife's grandfather. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08163824356555626910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-6793419973666201682017-09-24T21:22:55.036-04:002017-09-24T21:22:55.036-04:00Thanks, man.Thanks, man.Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-15956847526227265782017-09-24T21:14:32.351-04:002017-09-24T21:14:32.351-04:00This is the most beautiful and most real thing you...This is the most beautiful and most real thing you've ever written here. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08163824356555626910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-25561168630382410342017-08-21T19:33:48.825-04:002017-08-21T19:33:48.825-04:00It is uncomfortable, isn't it?! :-DIt is uncomfortable, isn't it?! :-DJoffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-33011496586464430962017-08-18T05:55:49.141-04:002017-08-18T05:55:49.141-04:00And reading the rest of Ezekiel 16 in this light.....And reading the rest of Ezekiel 16 in this light... well I'm looking forward to reading some discussion on this, but it sure seems like a good fit.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15686828700008006633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-26867493144277603862017-08-18T05:33:53.784-04:002017-08-18T05:33:53.784-04:00I can't help you. I'm sorry. This post mak...I can't help you. I'm sorry. This post makes me feel both uncomfortable and amazed (if your theory is correct). It did remind me of something John Piper said about what it means to "fill the earth": that marriage is for making disciples (http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/marriage-is-meant-for-making-children-disciples-of-jesus-part-1). The idea that God is sowing a seed in me that will create many children of His, and using the metaphor of my own marriage and intimacy in bringing forth our children, is beautiful. Glad I stopped by this morning. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15686828700008006633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-84266422138297803722017-08-12T19:05:15.592-04:002017-08-12T19:05:15.592-04:00Civil Engineer, saved by grace.Civil Engineer, saved by grace.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08163824356555626910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-44893927626997566452017-08-11T20:41:50.531-04:002017-08-11T20:41:50.531-04:00Even an engineer may be saved...Even an engineer may be saved...Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-58310223036058430922017-08-11T01:06:03.816-04:002017-08-11T01:06:03.816-04:00Ah, thank you. For me, that puts your post in a cl...Ah, thank you. For me, that puts your post in a clearer light, since I can frame it in the context of Chesterton's notion that mysticism keeps men sane. Those seeking answers, or The Answer, fall into a kind of materialistic trap, by disallowing the riddles of God, which, as he also said, were "more satisfying than the answers of Man." <br />I've tried before to explain this concept to a friend of mine, a non-Christian, an engineer, to no avail. I mentioned Chesteron's imagery of the "poet popping his head into the heavens and floating on an infinite sea," whereas "the logician tries to fit infinity into his head, but it's his head that cracks." As a rationalist in the extreme, he was convinced that efforts to comprehend and apprehend infinity were merely sensical, and that my notion of mysticism simply stopped all questioning. <br /><br />I can only hope that the Holy Spirit will win in him the stereoscopic vision of the mystic.<br />convincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05043289381074586601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-80481618068167164002017-08-11T00:06:55.882-04:002017-08-11T00:06:55.882-04:00Chesterton describes insanity as a narrow circle i...Chesterton describes insanity as a narrow circle in the beginning of Orthodoxy. It's consistent, it makes sense, you can run along it eternally, but in the end, it's narrow and closed.Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-36612034193466206862017-08-11T00:02:28.994-04:002017-08-11T00:02:28.994-04:00Given I am familiar with G.K. Chesterton and his w...Given I am familiar with G.K. Chesterton and his works, what does "Chesterton's narrow circle" relate to?convincehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05043289381074586601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-88623383824808822822017-05-16T18:36:29.154-04:002017-05-16T18:36:29.154-04:00Haha. I see what you did there.Haha. I see what you did there.alec megibbenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10734276219231511325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-266344025143390542017-05-16T17:22:37.791-04:002017-05-16T17:22:37.791-04:00I'm afraid that when it comes to socks with sa...I'm afraid that when it comes to socks with sandals we must put our foot down.Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-73756926783373530742017-05-16T17:21:56.954-04:002017-05-16T17:21:56.954-04:00Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed it!Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed it!Joffre The Gianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01768180753189024057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-15890489076544304992017-05-16T16:42:03.881-04:002017-05-16T16:42:03.881-04:00Haha. This is good. I love all three of you guys. ...Haha. This is good. I love all three of you guys. But I've shared the same frustration. And I appreciate your take on it.<br /><br />Of course how we dress and decorate ourselves communicates something about us to others. But a lot of broad assumptions are being made here. It's easy to see how blue hair could easily say a lot more about yourself than you ever intended to in the polite company of Idaho. And I'm sure wearing a kimono or sombrero would do the same. Cultural context matters.<br /><br />Hopefully we can move onto more interesting discussions soon - like whether or not Christian liberty permits hair perms and the wearing of socks with open toed sandals.<br />alec megibbenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10734276219231511325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7951550829861093919.post-85127244516677532112017-05-16T08:34:08.386-04:002017-05-16T08:34:08.386-04:00I really enjoyed your articulation of the problem ...I really enjoyed your articulation of the problem here; namely, presumption. I don't think more time needs to be spent on this issue specifically, unless we're talking about challenging one another in the Lord to be humble enough to recognize our own faults of presumption, and not let secondary things become primary (ie: tempest in a tea pot).Bercik & Agatkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01288246384902281848noreply@blogger.com