More Pics

If you were wanting to see more pics of Abigail (and why wouldn't you???), then just click the "Pictures" tab above.  That will link you to our Shutterfly account where we put the majority of our pics.  Enjoy!!!    (I couldn't pick just one)

Love and dirty diapers

She is finally here.  And I find myself lacking the creativity to express my feelings in words.  But I have also noticed that my actions better demonstrate them.  I actually like to clean Abigail and change her diapers.  Granted, her diapers haven't been that bad... yet.  For anyone who knows me well, you know that the sight of a dirty diaper brings queasy and a vomitus feelings within me.  With this bundle of preciousness, I don't mind at all.  We'll see if this trend continues. 

(Liz is appreciative too)

Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament -- Book Review

It has been said that those who can’t, teach.  I wonder if the opposite is true, even in a small way; that those who can, can’t teach (teach well?).  I am a huge fan of G. K. Beale for 2 reasons: he is a biblical theologian par excellence & his understanding and exegesis of the NT use of the OT is second to none.  However, in his recently published Handbook on the NT use of the OT, I felt that it was a bit wanting in this subject area.  Don’t get me wrong, for what it is (a broad yet brief introduction to the subject), it is good.  But I think Beale’s forte is more about doing than explaining his method for doing (the latter being the topic of this book). 

My research inquiries of late have been on this subject (mainly how salt and light were OT symbols evoked by Jesus  in Matt. 5:13-16 and the significance of the Shema in James 2:19; both need more work before I consider them “publishable”).  So I had high hopes for this book.  And that could be the cause for my less than positive review here. 

The most beneficial part of this book is that it lays out Beale’s method to study the NT’s use of the OT.  If there was a person’s exegetical methodology to emulate, it would be Beale’s.  He raises questions that interpreters need to be asking themselves when dealing with this part of exegesis and theology.  He unfolds a 9 step process for examination.  But some of these steps were either very obvious (step #1 and identifying the quotation or allusion), or could have used more clarification (step #9 and the rhetorical use of the OT), or overlapped with other steps (Steps #5 & #6; comparing the texts in the LXX, DSS, MT, OG, and Jewish sources with analyzing the author’s textual use of the OT or Steps #6 & #7; comparing the author’s interpretive/hermeneutical use with his theological use).

2 very helpful areas of Beale’s Handbook are his emphasis on 2^nd temple Literature (something I have been critical of in the past but now see the importance of such a study) wherein he devotes an entire chapter to this subject (though parts were extremely wearisome to read through since there was a lot of bibliographic info) and his list with examples of multiple ways the NT uses the OT.  However this section was much too brief to really illustrate the various ways and give the reader a high level of clarity.  And even then, there was overlap between categories (something Beale himself admitted) which proved to be somewhat unhelpful.

The intended audience is certainly for students being introduced to this important subject.  As Beale stated in the preface, “The purpose of this book is to provide pastors, students, and other serious readers of Scripture with a how-to approach for interpreting the use of the OT in the NT.”  So it is definitely a 101.  However, it does cite bibliographic info that will help in the research process.  Therefore, it does have some “replay” value in that regard.

Perhaps its biggest fault in my estimation is that it was not well written.  I have to be careful here because I’m not Bill Shakespeare by any stretch.  But as I said above, I believe Beale’s strong suite is to do rather than to teach method.  There were times where the book felt tedious.  Now I must be honest and say that the tedium of this book is that it may be a consequence that it was an intro level book.  But there was something that left this realm of research something less to be desired.  I expected in an intro level book from an author such as Beale to motivate those interested in this realm of study to see the tremendous pay out of a detailed study.  The examples he gave hardly raise the excitement level, in my opinion. 

When I compare the helpfulness of this book to, say, his and Carson’s Commentary on the NT Use of the OT (they edited the book and authored some of its chapters) or Beale’s magnum opus A New Testament Biblical Theology where we see his method in action (and the return it yields in theology), I feel that this addendum did not meet the expectations of the other 2 works.  Thus I only give this book 1 thumb up.  After all, it did give a thorough working model for one of the greatest biblical theologians and exegetes of OT in the NT of the 20^th-21^st century.  It will be a necessary tool for the student engaging with this subject for the first time or a pastor refreshing his mind with the subject for preaching and teaching (and offering a good method to evaluate these instances of OT in the NT).  And I think its strengths stop there in that it will not go beyond an introduction or helpful refresher.  Even as a textbook to a class on the NT’s use of the OT, I feel it would have to be supplemented with other books where there is more of an emphasis on doing rather than explaining method (something such as Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament).

Abigail Update @ 36 Weeks

This past year has flown by with so many surprises.  Of course Abigail was the biggest surprise and we only have 27 days until she is due to arrive! 

We went to the doctor today and everything is looking good.  She is growing perfectly, weighing a little less than 6 pounds.  I've been a little worried she was going to be a BIG baby but the doctor assured me today that she will be around 7 pounds.  Let's pray he is correct!

We are now at the point where we have a doctor visit every week.  Today's visit, we had our normal ultrasound done, but this little girl is too much like her momma.  She would not stop hiding from the camera so we could get a good look at her cute little face.

Because of Abigail's lack of cooperation for the camera, I sucked it up and allowed Tim to take a picture of us.  Here we are at 36 weeks. :-)

From the Trash Dump to the Classroom

Living in Honduras, there is a constant reminder of the extreme poverty that is all around us.  This is not our first experience in desperate destitution, but now that we live in and around it, it is far more real.

This Christmas, Liz and I decided to help 4 children that are part of a ministry here called Amore, Fe, Esperanza ("love, faith, hope" or just AFE pronounced "ahfay").  This ministry seeks to reach out to the poorest of the poor in Honduras and give the children an education.

You can see children in the middle

Here is how the ministry works.  These families are so poor, that their entire life is spent in the garbage heaps and trash dumps of the capital city (click this link to read more about this trash culture).  They root around in the filth to try to find something salvageable or edible.  This is their income.  That is their work.  They live off of what we discard.  But since the income is so low, the children are forced by their parents to take up the family business.  That means, they are not given the luxury of even an elementary education.  These kids are illiterate and filthy. 

AFE steps in and has provided not only a school for these children to learn, but they actually pay the parents to allow the children to attend to make up for the loss of income!  Each year at Christmas, teachers from our school help out and give each of the many children involved a Christmas present very similar to the "shoe-boxes" that most churches take part in the States.

Liz and I picked 4 names which turned out to be associated with four beautiful children.  We bought them school bags, school supplies, and other toiletries as well as some games.  And the little bit we bought them brought such a joy and happiness that we Americans hardly ever experience being so wealthy.  But this is the gospel in action.  Loving the lowly, healing the hurting, and taking kids out of the trash dump and putting them into the classroom.  To God be the glory.  May the gospel be lived out even more here in a place that desperately needs it!