I have been at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco over the last week. I think the below graphic adequately describes how much I am looking forward to Chicago weather when I return.

While taking care of a email setting problem for an instructional assistant in a 3rd grade classroom today, I overheard an interesting discussion.  The class, seated on the floor in a circle, was discussing a book about a caveman who had a dinosaur as a pet. The teacher, emphasizing the fictional nature of the story, asked, "Did caveman really have dinosaurs as pets?" A resounding "No!" arose from the class.  "Were dinosaurs around when cavemen were on the earth?" Another strong chorus of "No's".

I bit my tongue and shook my head a little, heart saddened some. I am probably imaging it, but perhaps there was a little disappointment hiding underneath that 2nd third grade "No". What if they were able to hear or read about true dinosaur stories?  "True stories", you may ask?  Yes, true stories like God creating the land-based dinosaurs on the fifth day, the same day as man, stories of Adam giving different dinosaurs their names, stories of Noah finding room in his huge ark for them, stories of Job's knowledge of dinosaurs, and speculative stories of a new Earth were dinosaurs may once again roam the earth along side of grown-up third graders.

Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; He eats grass like an ox.
Behold now, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly.
He bends his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
His bones are tubes of bronze; His limbs are like bars of iron.
He is the first of the ways of God; Let his maker bring near his sword.
Surely the mountains bring him food, And all the beasts of the field play there.
Under the lotus plants he lies down, In the covert of the reeds and the marsh.
The lotus plants cover him with shade; The willows of the brook surround him.
If a river rages, he is not alarmed; He is confident, though the Jordan rushes to his mouth.
Can anyone capture him when he is on watch, With barbs can anyone pierce his nose
-Job 40:15-24

I just finished the filing my Federal and State taxes, as well as paying my first installment of our property taxes. In Sunday School, we just finished studying about how the slaves in Egypt paid 20% of their produce as a tax to Pharaoh through Joseph. The slaves had a good deal. We pay a total of about 27% in taxes -- and I'm sure I missed some. I am not complaining... much. We live in a great country. It's just that people sometimes forget that if the government does something, we have to pay for it.

• 10% Effective Federal Income Tax (after deductions and such)
  
• 3% State Income Tax
• 9% State & County Sales Tax (don't forget utility, gasoline, and phone taxes)
• 5% Property Tax  (property tax compared to our annual income)
  

  

Romans 5:3 (RSV) says, "We rejoice in our sufferings..." and I Thess 5:16 (NAS) commands "Rejoice always". There is no one I know who has lived these verses out more powerfully than my younger cousin, Melinda. In 2007, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Since then, she has had 2 surgeries, with a 3rd surgery coming up on Monday, Feb. 1. 

However, ifyou read Melinda's most recent journal post (Jan 27, 10), you will not find someone who is petrified, but someone who is bubbling over with thankfulness, literally in every paragraph. Melinda spends more time praising her surgeon and asking people to pray for God to bless him, than she does asking for prayer for her own surgery. Wow - what an example for us all.  The next time I start to complain about something, I need to shut my mouth, re-read this post, be thankful, and pray for Melinda (and yes, Melinda, I will pray for Dr. Madden too).

An eight-year-old daughter of a friend of mine asked him, "dad, in like a million, thousand years are they going to write a sequel to the Bible?" Here is my long-winded response to her...

"God's sequels, unlike many movie sequels, are always more powerful, exciting, etc than the original (ex. 1st Earth/New Earth; 1st Adam/2nd Adam).  If God authors a 2nd version of His Word, the same will be true of it.

But wait, maybe in a way, He has already started. 2Cor 3:2-3 says that our transformed lives are letters of Christ, are trophies of God's grace (Ephes. 2:7)

Revelation 20:12 talks about books that contain all the deeds people have done. Unbelievers are judged by these books. Perhaps these books also contain our story. Maybe we will study them, discovering how God worked through ALL the events in our life, good and terrible, to protect us, bring us to Himself, and showcase His grace. And then, after we have just begun to understand God's goodness, we will hear other people's stories about how God did the same thing in their lives.

Maybe, just maybe, WE are one of the books in God's sequel."

Karis an I just returned from a beautiful, albeit overcast trip to Starved Rock with some friends from church. We viewed the first Bald Eagles that I have ever seen in the wild.  The frozen waterfalls were mind-boggling -- good thing I didn't bring crampons and 2 ice-axes. The path and wooden steps were icier than I have ever seen them. Thankfully, I was wearing a pair of Yak-Traxs that I picked up at Menards for $14. It was like walking on dry pavement the whole time, even when I climbed around the ice-fall.