Bible Verse Sunday #72 and the Return

Two. Weeks. And three days. Wow.

That's the longest I've ever gone without posting a single word on this blog in its one year and five month history, and I am happy to announce that I am ready to return from this short hiatus. We will begin by getting back to basics, starting with the seventy-second installment of Bible Verse Sunday. This week's verse is Luke 18:16:

"But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."

This verse illustrates Jesus' innate compassion, especially for the younger generation. Jesus, knowing the scriptures, such as Proverbs 22:6, understood that training up the next generation of believers was a top priority. He knew that instilling a godly foundation into children was important to their development into faithful, godly adults. He also appreciated the innocence of little children, which is what he meant when he said that the kingdom of God belongs to such. That is, he meant that the kingdom of God belongs to the innocent. Or rather, it belongs to those who are made innocent through their acceptance of his sacrifice.

In church today, the Pastor continued in his series on the book of Romans (feels like it's been going on forever). In it, we discussed Romans 7, in which we learned that sin isn't the problem; we are the problem. Unfortunately, people are often reluctant to admit this, which leads to the truism that "You can't legislate morality," the flipside being, naturally, that you shouldn't be able to legislate immorality either, i.e. gay marriage. The key question to ask in this instance is, "What in my life do I need to change?"

In the High School service, the youth pastor talked about John 8:12-30, in which Jesus declared that he was "the light." The Pharisees, needless to say, didn't get it. The main point of this story is that Jesus, being the light of the world, gives us light. This means that even when we feel like we're all alone, with no hope, this is not the case. Jesus is always there for us. We are never alone.

During my absence, several momentous occasions came and went. For example, Easter 2014. For that blessed occasion, we invited several of our relatives over for dinner after church, having a good time filled with uplifting and intelligent conversation. Christ was indeed with us, in our very presence.

The following weekend brought us the Bible Quizzing Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament 2014, in which I froze repeatedly and our Novice team emerged victorious as undefeated champions in their bracket. My sister Rebekah's birthday was over that particular weekend, and we celebrated by bringing a homemade chocolate cake to the snack table. Unfortunately, we had neither knives, forks, nor plates, forcing us to cut the cake with a folded up paper cup and to eat it with our hands out of other paper cups. But all in all, I'm glad to have met some new people and to have spent some time outdoors. It is my last Regional as a quizzer, and I look forward to acquitting myself and my team well at the upcoming National competition.

Yesterday brought us Free Comic Book Day, a happy event which was held at my local comic book store, the Comic Hut. I picked up the Avatar: The Last Airbender issue that Dark Horse put out for the occasion and the awfully depressingly Future's End #0 that DC produced. I reviewed them both for Primary Ignition, and hope to see them up and ready soon. I also picked up Azrael Vol. 1 issues #7 and 8. Not the best comic, but hey, I love Jean-Paul Valley and will fervently hope that the creators at DC will bring him back with a talented, up-and-coming writer like Scott Snyder of James T. Tynion IV or somebody. Who knows? Maybe he's show up in this Batman: Eternal miniseries they're running right now. I just bought issue #4 on Comixology, and I'd say that it would be the perfect place to do that. Failing that, I'll get a job at DC and write him in myself. But anyway, I'm rambling. I spent Free Comic Book Day working, going to the comic book store, getting pelted by rain, and helping my mom man a booth at this business expo thing down in Renton.

Finally, today is Star Wars Day, or May the Fourth be With You. This holiday celebrates the Star Wars saga, and I although I am saddened that I'll have to miss my church's film viewing party of Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (doubling as a "Cinco de May Eve" party) in order to attend my sister's belated birthday dinner, I am happy to do so on her account. In the meantime, I do look forward to watching The Empire Strikes Back tonight, a fitting follow up to last year's viewing of A New Hope. Thusly, I say unto ye all, happy Star Wars Day, and may the fourth be with you!

Pearl Harbor Day 2013

Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the day when Japanese forces 
bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Seventy-two years ago today, in 1941, this attack claimed the lives of about 2,400 Americans, and led to the United States' involvement in World War Two. Pearl Harbor Day was first inaugurated as an official day of memorial in on August 23, 1994. It is not a federal holiday, but many people and organizations gather to remember this "day that will live in infamy," such as the 2,500 people who gathered at Pearl Harbor today. This group included 50 survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

For me, today was not only Pearl Harbor Day, but my sister Naomi's 11th birthday party. I didn't see the party though, because, my dad, my sister Rebekah and I quit the house for a while to go down to the shop. I did my job and brought my trusty computer along, just in case. I wasn't able to do what I had originally intended (that is, put my textbooks from Fall quarter at BC up for sale and purchase my books for next quarter), but I did manage to do my job of cleaning the shop, and got lunch with Dad and Rebekah.

After dad took Rebekah home while I finished up cleaning at the shop, dad and I went to where these people with the Downtown Renton Committee were roasting chestnuts and handing out warm cider and cookies. I stopped by the Comic Hut to browse, and, since I wanted to get into the Thor comics soon, I purchased for $3.50 a copy of Journey into Mystery #639. It seemed to be as good a place as any to get into Thor, even though it's primarily Loki's book, as that character is so quick to declare. Once I get finished with the Spider-Man stuff I want to read, which could take a while, I will move into the 2007 Thor series, and read on from there. I have a very complicated list system.

Anyhow, we then trekked down to the Piazza, where, despite missing the tree lighting, we saw the arrival of Santa Claus on a fire engine. It was an exciting occasion, and many small children and older personages alike were greatly thrilled. Dad and I then walked back to the shop, gathered our things, loaded the car, and headed for home. Naomi's party had long since ended, and I helped myself to a piece of leftover cake. Perhaps we will watch some kind of old war movie tonight in celebration of Pearl Harbor Day. Last year, if you recall, we watched Tora! Tora! Tora!, a marvelous film if I ever saw one. I think we might watch Captains of the Clouds tonight if there is time. In the meantime, a blessed Pearl Harbor Day to you readers, one and all!

Image courtesy of timeanddate.com

Bible Verse Sunday #36 & the End of Vacation 2013

Today's verse comes from a book I picked up while on vacation, called The Spirit of America. It's basically a catalog of various Bible verses by subject. Today's verse is Psalm 31:24:

"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!"

The ESV Study Bible has this to say about the verse:

"The psalm closes with assurance: the God who has made promises and who has kept them in the past will continue to do so. On v. 24, cf. 27:14."

We didn't attend church today as we were busy driving home from vacation. We packed up all our stuff and let the hotel room swept clean. Then we went out for breakfast, going to this buffet thing at this fancy burger joint. Then we drove to this somewhat larger city where we walked around town. A lot. We walked more than half a mile to get to this bakery place where mom could purchase some gluten free bread. Then dad met up with us with the car, and we went to this electrical museum, where they had these old radios and telegraphs and stuff, including a theremin. It's a musical instrument invented by this physicist guy which you don't have to touch to play. You just wave your hands next to the rods and sound comes out. They even had this old radio which could be tuned to play stuff that would have been on the radio when it (the radio) was new, or something more modern, like a local news broadcast. After that, we went to this hobby shop, where I was unable to find anything related to the Star Wars Roleplaying game, but I did pick up some new dice. We then browsed at this comic book store where a bunch of guys were playing Yu-Gi-Oh. I didn't buy anything, but my Dad bought for my sisters some old Archie Comics and a Batman: Gotham Adventures issue from back in 2001! (As a rule, I generally don't buy any comics if I can get it from the library. Luckily for my comic book store, and comixology.com should I finally decide to shop there, there are plenty of issues out there that have yet to be collected in trade, namely issues from the first volume of the Azrael comic book)

We then left that town and hit the road again, listening to a Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I've always liked anything to do with The Chronicles of Narnia (except for the absolutely awful The Voyage of the Dawn Treader film), or anything to do with C.S. Lewis for that matter, and I listened to this series of audio dramatizations of The Chronicles of Narnia a lot when I was younger, and am thrilled to, after a series of technical issues, have them all ready to play on my iPod! With the help of a adapting cord, we were able to play it through the car radio. That kept us entertained until we got home (we stopped for bathroom breaks and an early dinner at this less-fancy burger joint). Aw, home, sweet home!

May the Fourth be with You

Today was a day of many special occasions. It was Star Wars Day, for which I watched Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope with my family, which I will be reviewing soon. Today was also Free Comic Book Day, where I went to my local comic book store and bought some comics, in addition to the free ones that were being given out. I bought Superman/Batman issues 7 and 33, and Batman, Inc. issue 10. The free ones that I chose were the Superman one and the Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Avatar: The Last Airbender one. The Superman/Batman issues were mostly sub-par, as was the Star Wars/Captain Midnight/Avatar: The Last Airbender comic, but the Superman book was actually pretty solid. It ended in a cliffhanger though, and I'm not sure where I would find the next installment.

Also occurring today was a  belt test at my taekwondo school. I believe that I did good, breaking my board on the first try with a turn snap kick. Everyone else did wonderfully. After the test, I helped out with the Renton clean up, operating a push broom to help sweep the dust and grime off the streets. I worked at my Dad's shot for a while after that, going home at around 4:00.

Another thing that was today was my good friend Nate's birthday. He's nineteen years old now, and he's still the good fun guy I've always known. So, happy birthday, Nate!

In other news, I am assembling a time capsule. I plan to seal it with duct tape, store it in my attic for twenty years, and then take it out again afterwards. It should be fascinating to look back on how far we've progressed since that time. I still have to get some stuff for it though, so it looks like I'll have some shopping to do tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Star Wars Day. May the fourth be with you!

Image courtesy ffindr.com

Black Friday

Today was Black Friday, known throughout the world as a day of rock bottom sales and great bargains. To paraphrase Marla Masters from the comic strip Retail, it is quite ironic that a day of gratefulness should be followed by a day of greed. At any rate, the only bargain I got was 20% discount on all items at my local comic book store, the Comic Hut. I also did some shopping with my dad at Barnes & Noble, though I still have some shopping left to do yet. I hope to get it done sometime tomorrow, but at any rate, I have plenty of time.

Before I went shopping, however, I helped my dear old dad to decorate downtown Renton, as is our annual duty. We put up garlands on light poles, in the drizzling rain, and plan to come back to finish the job soon. I'll be working tomorrow, at my dad's shop no less, so maybe we'll get it done sometime around that time.

After all that, we went to my grandma and grandpa's residence (that's my dad's parents) and had some Thanksgiving leftovers. We watched a little bit of the football came between Washington State University and the University of Washington, though I'm not sure who won. Last time I checked it was 23-25 or something in favor of UW, though I'm not completely sure. We also watched a little bit of Mary Poppins on ABC, which I haven't seen in ages, but still has the same old charm as it did when I was a kid. Finally, we are home and trying to decide what to watch. I'll update about that on my Facebook page.

So, in the meantime, what did you all do for Black Friday? Did you shop, or did you just stay home and eat leftovers? In the words of Jeremy Jahns, comment below and let me know! I'm very eager to hear back from my readers!