Reflections on the Shema - Part Shalosh

וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--עַל-לְבָבֶךָ

וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ

Continuing on to verses 6 & 7, you will notice an echo (or reiteration) of the previous verse (5). 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The flow of the verses - again - is an inside to outside movement beginning with a person's heart followed by teaching the word of God to one's children (household), followed finally by taking the word of God out on to the streets. One could say - in all that you do remember these commandments - impress them always not only upon your own heart but also the hearts of your family members as well as where ever you go. And finally, remember these commandments before you lie your head down at night and remember when you first arise in the morning.

The Great Smoky Mountain Adventure

Move over Griswalds...make way for the Coopers (and their minivan chuck full of stuff!) while on their Great Smoky Mountain Adventure.

To celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary, Jaclyn and I decided to take the family to The Smokies for some great hiking. (We call it an adventure because, yes, we took the kiddos along, and yes they needed to think of it as an adventure.) Jaclyn grew up going to the Smokies almost on an annual basis and this was something that she really wanted to share with her family. She always says that Mt. Le Conte is her most favorite place on earth, and now I know why -it was just absolutely beautiful. The GSNP is a very special place and I know we'll end up going back there again. So, here are some pictures from our "adventure." Enjoy!

Day 1 - Arrival

When we first arrived in Gatlainburg, TN, we stayed at the Rocky Waters Motor Inn on the north side of town. Pretty nice place inside and out, but if it hadn't been for the great deal through hotels.com, I don't think we'd have stayed there.

Day 2 - Grotto Falls

A "traditional" shot at the park entrance.


On our first full day at The Smokies, we took a short three mile hike (round trip) to Grotto Falls. We're standing behind falls as you can see. While there we met a couple and the guy sweeps his wife up in his arms and trudges through thigh high water at the base of the falls so I could take a picture of them. I wasn't so daring!

Day 3 - Laurel Falls

The next day, we hiked another trail leading to Laurel Falls, which you see here as well as the next two pictures below.





Day 4 - The Hike to Le Conte

We started our 5 mile adventure (one way) on a Tuesday morning at 8:30am. We took the Alum Cave trail up to Mt. Le Conte (it is one of five trails a traveler can take).


It wasn't long before Elijah had had enough. (We had been hiking for 20 minutes!) I'm such a bad dad, I was laughing.


At the 1.4 mile mark, we arrived at Arch Rock. By this time Elijah had been riding on my back for the last .5 miles, where he would remain for the remainder of the trip up the mountain. The total pack weight with him in it was 40 pounds (25% of my body weight!). He was very heavy to carry up.


Here's Jaclyn and Naomi climbing up a steep and rocky path using the cables for support. Jaclyn and I were so very proud of our 5 year old daughter. She hiked the whole thing all by herself. She was given the distinction of "Super Hiker." She was the only 5 year old who hiked that trail that day.


Just takin' a break.


Finally after 6.5 hours of hiking, we made it to the top of Mt. Le Conte. This is a picture I took from our cabin balcony. All the cabins are built similarly, but what you can't see is the fact that there is no electricity or running water at Le Conte. We carried water to our cabin in a bucket from a community spigot, and our cabin was lit by an oil lamp. Because there is no electricity, the workers that live there use propane for cooking and heating.


Enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in the dining hall. All those who had reserved cabins for the night dine together in the hall.


Each night, most of the people staying at Le Conte hike up .2 miles to Clifftops to view the sunset.


"Come and get it...breakfast is ready!" Elijah really like ringing the "dinger" bell. The staff serve dinner and breakfast for 60 people each day. The food was great!


Workin' our way back down the mountain the next day!


One last picture before we loaded up and headed home.

Interesting Details
- Elevation: 6593 ft.
- 5 trailheads leading to Mt. Le Conte
- Pack llamas travel up and down the mountain three times per week bringing supplies and laundry.
- Helicopters deliver 220,000 pounds of supplies annually which takes 40 trips.
- One man has hiked up to Le Conte over 1200 times.
- We met a 79 year old man who has hiked up over 80 times.
- One man hiked up with his mother strapped to a chair on his back!!!

Reflections on the Shema - Part Schteim

Before I head off to Frankfort, IN for three days of Wesleyan Church History class, I thought I should get in one more reflection on the Shema. In my previous post, I talked a little about the oneness (or unity) of God as reflected in verse 4. Beginning in verse 5, we encounter the first of a series of repetitions - "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (NRSV).

וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ

Reading literally in English: and / love / you / the Lord / of you / with all / heart / or you / and / with all / the soul / of you / and / with all / the strength / of you. We have the repetition of the phrase “with all” followed by the sequence: heart, soul, and strength. So a good reflective question to ask is, what is the intent behind this series of repetitions? Checking outside sources the word we translate as "soul" can also refer to one's household. And the word we translate "strength" not only refers to one's physical strength but material strength as well. So, with this in mind, the sequence of heart-soul-strength may very well be an inside-out principle showing God's people how to return his love. Moses may then have been indicating that God's children's love should move in to larger circles - beginning in the heart, moving in to the family, and following in to the household/town. What a beautiful way to express one's love for God! We'll encounter this repetition again. Till next time.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Costly Grace

I started reading Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship this week and I'd like to share some of his thoughts on costly grace versus cheap grace.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

The Cost of Discipleship, (39).

Bishop N.T. Wright says...

The universal early Christian belief was that Jesus had already been demonstrated publicly to be Israel's Messiah and the world's true Lord through his resurrection. That, as we've seen, is part of the whole point of the Christian story. And if we believe it and pray, as he taught us, for God's kingdom to come on earth as in heaven, there is no way we can rest content with major injustice in the world.

From Surprised By Hope (216).


More on his book to come.