The Weekend (so far)

We're in Yankton, SD at our summer home (at least our summer home of 2005) with Jim and Marilyn at the midpoint of our Christmas weekend. I didn't have to work today, so we don't have to head back to Sioux Falls until tomorrow. I had hoped to be on the bike about now, but those plans were foiled when a part of my cold weather gear didn't make the trip with me. It's a little colder than had been predicted, so going without the gear is out of the question.

Our weekend got started on Saturday morning with a visit from our friendly, neighborhood Jehovah's Witnesses. Amy had been unfortunate to get the door the last few times, so I made sure to get it this time. My last experience with the JW in Marion was less than pleasant, so I was ready to do whatever it took to get rid of them this time in the most expedient manner.

I've sort of learned that the JW are a good group to practice apologetics with. I doubt that I'll ever convert one and I know they won't convert me, so we can debate (hopefully in a civil manner) points of theology in a way that help me sharpen my communication skills where Scripture is concerned. That was certainly the case this time as we got into areas concerning the doctrine of the Trinity. The JW believe that Jesus is a god, but not the God. The doctrine of the Trinity believes that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Father are three distincive parts of one entity.

We also got into a little bit about the Greek work "proskuneo" which is a word for worship used throughout the New Testament and how, I believe, it is misinterpreted to skew against the divinity of Jesus in the translation of the Bible that the JW use. I'd been carrying that one around for awhile, so it was nice to finally be able to talk to a JW about something they were unaware of in their own Bible.

It was not an uncivil conversation, but I was glad when they left. It also gave me occasion to think on the divinity of Christ quite a bit on the day before Christmas.

Christmas morning we opened gifts with the kids at home, followed by church at New Hope doing what we do. We had a good service with candlelighting, communion and a fair amount of music including the version of "Behold the King" that I rewrote last year and a slew of stuff that Hal either arranged or wrote.

After church, we were on the road to Yankton. We got in a little after 1:00 and opened present and had lunch. We had the same white chili recipie that Jim made last year when I got so sick (see the January 2005 archives for the full story, remember to read bottom to top). Amy was a bit worried that if I ate it, we'd have to move again. Thankfully, the bug that I had picked up that led to my reaction last year was nowhere to be found. I was even able to have it again for supper. The chili was just as good as last year, but I have to say that I was glad to be able to re-experience it on my own terms.

So far, I've accumulated a fair amount of reading material including Anne Rice's "Christ the King...", Brian McLaren's "A New Kind of Christian" and Mark Steele's "Flashbang" as well as Star Wars Episode III on DVD and the latest Tree 63 CD. I also got a Santa Yoda (which I accidentally discovered about three weeks before Christmas in a drawer but didn't say a word about), gloves, socks, assorted toiletries, candy and other items. I'm also up to about $200 in my iPod fund. I am doing the research on which model to pick up, but I think I need at least 6 GB of storage to make it worthwhile. 20 GB would be ideal so that I wouldn't have to choose which CD's to rip to it.

We're off to Bonesteel for a 40th anniversary party tonight for Amy's aunt and uncle, after which we will drive back to Yankton to spend the night. Tomorrow is a trip to Vermillion to visit John and Lorrie Thomas (Amy's bassoon teacher and our friends) on our way back to Sioux Falls so that I can be at work by 3:30.

Thankfully, it's just a four day workweek followed by another Christmas/New Year's weekend with my folks, Rena's family and my grandparents in Fort Dodge, IA. The holidays are a whole lot easier to handle when we're so close to everybody.