The Next Guy

By | July 22, 2007
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Some have asked who is going to be taking my place at IBEX.  The answer is Abner Chou.  Abner was not an IBEX semester student, but has distinguished himself in so many other ways that I’m not going to try to count or list them.  His wife, Johanna (Dobos) Chou, was an IBEX student some years ago and brings a knowledge of Israel and a servant’s heart to the school.  I think Abner will do a great job, and I only regret that I won’t be able to work alongside him.  But if the Lord tarries, I predict that one day I’ll have the opportunity.  One curious fact: we both began/are beginning teaching at IBEX at the age of 24.  Abner, however, has more education than I did at that age, or do now.  May the Lord greatly bless Abner and Johanna!

Todd-and-Abner-on-Hill-of-Arbel
Todd and Abner on Arbel

Need Help with JavaScript

By | July 19, 2007
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I don’t know if any of my readers would be able to help me, or point me in the direction of help.  I have a rather large (120kb) js file for a webpage sidebar menu that takes a long time to load (15 sec), but it’s not an issue of download speed.  I don’t know if it’s a bug in the file or something inherent to large js files and browsers.  Alternately (or in addition) I could set it so that the the js file is loaded in the browser’s cache and doesn’t reload every time, but I don’t know how to do that.  If anyone is knowledgeable about these things and can help or suggest a person who could, I’d appreciate it.

UPDATE (7/20): David Larsen has figured it out.  There doesn’t seem to be an easy solution, but at least I know the cause of the problem.  Thanks David!

Accreditation

By | July 19, 2007
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Not long ago I was talking to some friends who went to a non-accredited college, and I made a comment to the effect no one should go to a non-accredited school.  A degree from such a school will not be accepted at an accredited school, so you have to “re-do” the degree in order to do graduate work. 

Tonight I briefly looked over an accreditation report of a college that I am familiar with, and my thought was, “who are these guys?,” “why are we allowing them to tell us what to do?,” and “is this not a classic case of being yoked with unbelievers?”  In fact, I think it’s worse than a marriage relationship in this sense: the accreditation committee isn’t a partner, but more like a boss.  So they can tell you to do things which are directly counter to your very purpose.  I give one example which is not exactly true to this case but will make my point.  The accreditation committee can demand that X percentage of professors publish X number of articles in certain approved journals.  Now that may be a good thing in itself, but what if the professors/institution have other priorities?  It really seems a case to me where a Christian college has to make itself a slave to a non-Christian body in order to be awarded the necessary approval.  I am essentially unfamiliar with the particular case I am mentioning, or with any others, and so I do not know whether there are unrighteous requirements or not.  It’s just the principle that bothers me.  And where it may lead.

First Sunday

By | July 16, 2007
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Today was an important day for us, with our desire to find a good church before looking for a home.  For those who don’t know Dallas or large metropolitan areas, this is important because you could easily live thirty minutes or more away from church.  And the longer the drive, the less involved you’ll likely be.  I don’t have plans for heavy involvement in ministry in these next four years (these are years of ministry preparation and the more ministry, the less preparation, or the longer the preparation), but there are various weekly meetings and we want to be close and not miss out because of drive time.

Today we visited a church that had been recommended to us by two people.  It was a different kind of church than either of us were raised in or have ever been to.  But there were many things about it that we liked, and we would not be surprised if it becomes our church home.  Other friends of ours moved in the area two months ago, visited this one church (at the recommendation of someone else), and never bothered looking at another church.  I think we’ll probably visit other churches.  This will give the Lord the opportunity to lead us to another, or to confirm that this church is the right one for us.  Throughout the services, I thought of many things worthy of notice, but I was too engaged to be able to write them down and I think now that I won’t try to mention them.  I’ll simply say that there were a number of refreshing aspects.  On the other hand, I think that making visitors wear name tags and introducing them to the congregation during the service is a good way to repel visitors, at least with those with personalities like mine.

We were planning to visit another church this evening, but now we learn that the evening service is only discipleship meetings, which apparently is not for visitors (from the website).  Too bad, and it’s going to make somebody unhappy with us.

Big D

By | July 15, 2007
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We are in Dallas.  Our Thursday and Friday ran together as we pulled an all-nighter packing our lives up.  We never would have made it without the help of our dear friends Jodi and Yuliya.  Thursday afternoon our family was walking the alleyways of the Old City and Friday evening we were driving through the suburbs of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the U.S. (after NY, LA and Chicago).  Why so many people want to live here is a mystery that I guess we will discover.

We are staying at the home of friends who are traveling for two weeks.  Once upon a time they were IBEX students.  If measured in terms of square feet and pictures on the wall, they have come a long ways real fast.  When they return, we’ll be moving closer to the center of Dallas to stay with other friends who will be around for a week before going on vacation.  Altogether we are hopeful that this will give us enough time to locate a church and a house.  A car is in there too but that should be easier than the other two.

I wish that I could be focused solely on this transition, but I have so many things on my list that just didn’t get done this summer (or last semester, or the one before that, etc.) that I really must apply myself very carefully to clear the decks, at least make some progress.  Most of the time I feel as if I am going backwards, with more things being added to the list than subtracted.  Either I am loved or incompetent.

A new thing on the summer list is to “refresh” my Greek in preparation for a course this fall.  It’s amazing how much you can forget in 12 years.

In recent times, people have told us “congratulations” or “you must be excited.”  Perhaps that feeling will come.  At this point, we feel more of the “loss” than of the “opportunity.”  We feel more of the “leaving” than of the “arriving.” We still believe this is God’s will and we know that we deserve nothing from him, including another second in Israel.  We should be rejoicing over the wonderful years thus far, and we do. 

UPDATE: I have changed some words in the last paragraph to more accurately reflect my feelings.  The original post was written when I was quite tired.

Can You Repent at the End?

By | July 7, 2007
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I know that some of you subscribe to Grace Gems, but for those of you who don’t, I thought today’s quote and story was helpful.  From Gorham Abbott, “The Family at Home“, 1833:

“They shall look on Him whom they have pierced,
 and shall mourn.” Zechariah 12:10

    Repentance is the tear of love,
    dropping from the eye of faith,
    when it fixes on Christ crucified.

Repentance begins in the humiliation of the heart, and
ends in the reformation of the heart and of the life.
Sincere repentance is never too late, but late repentance
is seldom sincere. The thief on the cross repented, and was
pardoned in the last hour of his life. We have one such
instance in scripture–that none might despair; and only
one–that none might presume.

Still, however, the probability that apparent repentance,
which comes at a dying hour, will be genuine, is very small.
The following fact will furnish an affecting illustration of this
sentiment, and a solemn warning against the too common
delusion of deferring the work of repentance to a dying bed:

The faithful and laborious clergyman of a very large and
populous parish had been accustomed, for a long series of
years, to preserve notes of his visits to the afflicted, with
remarks on the outcome of their affliction–whether life or
death, and of the subsequent conduct of those who recovered.
He stated, that, during forty years, he had visited more than
two thousand people apparently drawing near to death, and
who revealed such signs of penitence as would have led him
to indulge a good hope of their eternal safety–if they had
died at that moment. When they were restored to life and
health–he eagerly looked that they should bring forth fruits
fit for repentance. But alas! of the two thousand, only two
people manifested an abiding and saving change! The rest,
when the terrors of eternity ceased to be in immediate
prospect, forgot their pious impressions and their solemn
vows–and returned with new avidity to their former worldly
mindedness and sinful pursuits, “as the dog returns to its
vomit again, and as the sow that was washed to its
wallowing in the mire.”

Patent This Idea

By | July 5, 2007
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I have what I think is a pretty good idea.  But I bring it before this distinguished forum to have it shot full of holes and left for dead.  This idea came to me today as I was driving on the highways of Israel.  Perhaps it would not be applicable in countries like the U.S. where all drivers are safe and courteous.

The idea is to create a call registry where dangerous drivers can be quickly and easily reported by anyone.  The problem is that reckless drivers seem to move with relative impunity until they see a squad car.  Perhaps the random nature of the presence of police vehicles works out in the end to punish these offenders, but my idea would make it prudent to always be a safe driver.

A call line would be established (easily accessible by dialing *5555 or the like) where the offending driver’s license plate can then be entered.  Perhaps a code could also be given to list the offense (1 – reckless driving; 2 – suspected drunk driving; etc.). 

Now the trick to make this work is the use of computer technology to collate the calls to determine 1) if a driver is reported multiple times within a short time frame; 2) if a caller has a record of reliability.  Thus if a driver gets 5 calls within 5 minutes reporting him of suspected drunk driving, then that report would be deemed more credible.  (Multiple calls from the same phone number would be disregarded.)  Each caller for that report would receive a higher credibility rating because their report was confirmed by others.  This would help to discourage prank calls or dishonest reports.  I think it would work best in catching those drivers who are speeding through traffic, cutting multiple people off, and just being a general hazard.

Offenders could be sent a warning the first time, alerting them to the fact that their driving habits are being observed by everybody.  Future offenses could result in appropriate fines or worse.  The goal of course is not increased revenue, but safer roads by reducing the most dangerous driving practices.

It could be argued that reporting an incident by phone could create an additional hazard, but many people have hands-free phones and there’s no reason that the call center couldn’t take voice input for the license number, just as banks do on calls today.

Piper book sale follow-up

By | June 27, 2007
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In case you forgot, that sale at Desiring God is today and tomorrow. A lot of people had the same idea as me, and you can see a list of others who recommend various Piper favorites at the DG blog. The author of most of these books himself weighs in on why it’s a bad idea to sell books for cheap.

BTW, if you’re wondering on the price of shipping, I bought 20 books (combined with a friend plus future gifts and such) and it was $10 for all with UPS Ground. It’s probably more than 50 cents if you order just one book, but in any case, this is not one of those operations that’s gouging you on the shipping.

Conquer or Concede?

By | June 27, 2007
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An opinion piece today in the Jerusalem Post, by Michael Freund:

Once upon a time, and it truly seems like it was a very long time ago, the State of Israel knew how to take swift and decisive action in order to protect its citizens and punish its foes.

I know, dear reader, that may be hard for you to believe, particularly in light of recent events. After all, Israel has spent much of the past decade in retreat, ignominiously capitulating to terrorism and turning over vast swathes of territory to Palestinian control.

With Cpl. Gilad Schalit being held captive by Palestinians in Gaza for the past year, and the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev dodging Kassam rockets on a daily basis, it is easy to forget that words such as heroism, daring and bravery once exemplified our government’s approach towards combating terror.

None of these qualities were on display the other day at Sharm e-Sheikh, of course, where Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saw fit to heap concession after concession on the ineffectual and increasingly irrelevant Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

After agreeing to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to the Abbas-led regime, and to strengthen the armed Fatah gangs loyal to him, the premier presented his Palestinian counterpart with an unexpected parting gift.

“As a gesture of goodwill to the Palestinians,” Olmert declared, “I decided today that I’ll bring to the Israeli government at its next meeting a recommendation to release 250 prisoners from Fatah without blood on their hands.”

Then, in what passes for Israeli resolve and determination these days, the premier insisted that the Fatah terrorists would be freed, but only if “they sign commitments not to become involved again in terrorism.” Phew. And I thought they would be let go for nothing.

Apparently, it didn’t dawn on the Prime Minister to link the release of Palestinian terrorists with freedom for Gilad Schalit, or to condition any further movement on the diplomatic front with progress towards his return home.

Instead, the fact that a young Israeli Jew serving his country was abducted 12 months ago by a group of thugs was treated as if it was a pesky and tiresome nuisance, rather than a substantive and fundamental matter of principle.

In light of the Prime Minister’s sorry display, it is especially important that we recall the anniversary of an important event that took place just over three decades ago this week, one which offers us a potent and timely reminder of just how terrorism should truly be fought.

IT WAS 31 years ago today, on June 27, 1976, that armed gunmen from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, together with some German accomplices, hijacked Air France flight 139, diverting it to Libya and then on to the city of Entebbe, in Idi Amin’s Uganda.

As the world looked on, the terrorists proceeded to separate out the Jewish and Israeli passengers, threatening to kill them if Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails were not set free.

Back then, however, Israel was not yet in the habit of yielding to terrorist demands. No international summits were convened at Sharm e-Sheikh, no “gestures” were made to the terrorists, nor were any tax receipts transferred into their coffers.

Instead, Israel reacted precisely as it should have, by launching a stunning military raid on July 4, 1976, freeing virtually all the captives and bringing the situation to a sudden and dramatic end.

You can read the rest here.

Pro Baseball in Israel

By | June 26, 2007
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, tb062407377dxo On Sunday night, I took the boys to see the first-ever professional baseball game in Israel.  The “league” has six teams and three fields and they’ll play 45 games each in the next couple of months.  The atmosphere was decidedly American – even the announcer was calling it in English.  Most Israelis don’t understand baseball and they don’t care for its slow pace.  Soccer is the national sport, followed by basketball.  Most of the players are not Israeli (20 of 120 are), and not all are good.  For example, in the third inning, one team got two singles but five runs.  They get $2,000 for the season, which seems to me like a fair pay rate for MLB players in the U.S. as well.

You can read more about the game at Haaretz and Arutz-7.  I’ll just add that our tickets were paid for by the guy with the World Series ring, a close friend had the best seat in the winning team’s dugout and I sat next to an Israeli journalist.  Does it sound like I am connected or what?

 
, tb062407374
Guess where we were sitting…