Jesus from the Left and from the Right

Two news stories caught my attention recently:

• Chinese textbook rewrites Bible, claims Jesus stoned woman to death
• American Evangelicals now think Jesus was too woke

There's a certain symmetry there no?

Counting Stars In a New Light

 

He (the Lord) took him (Abraham) outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” - Genesis 15:5

Ok that's a pretty well known quote and it often gets accompanied with images like my photo (above) of the Milky Way made while camping beside the red deer river. 

But a friend (Hi Richard) pointed out that in Genesis 15:12 we get the line:

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep ...

There is nothing to indicate between Gen 15:5 and 15:12 that this wasn't all on the same day. What if it was daylight? Does that change how we read 15:5?  It is certainly absurd to ask Abraham to count the stars he can not see.

I think it renders 15:5 something like:

Your offspring that you can not see will be numerous like the unseen stars.

or

Your offspring, who are to come will be like the stars which are to come. 

And so after some ancient contract making, and some more prophecy only then can Abraham see the stars he can't hope to count.  For me it deepens the impact of that well known verse, emphasizing the need for trust.

- Peace

Edit Totals for Garmin Edge 520

I track my biking KMs using a Garmin Edge 520.  Occasionally something goes wrong and I need to edit my total KMs.  Like last night when my battery died mid ride.  I tracked the rest of my ride on my Fenix 5x, but I like to have my KMs for the year in one place, so I know when to make my next 100km picture. So I needed to edit the Totals.fit file that the Edge 520 uses to track totals.

I've written some code that edits the Totals file used by the Garmin Edge 520, and released it on GitHub.  See Fit Totals Editor.

- Peace

The Lord's Prayer

I shared reflections on the Lord's Prayer at Awaken's (virtual) service today.  There have been many sermons on the Lord's Prayer - but most of the ones I've heard take the prayer apart, treating each part as standalone.  That makes sense as you can dive deep on each line, and almost every word of the prayer.  This reflection take the approach that the Lord's Prayer is one prayer, that each line speaks to the others.

Our Father in heaven, 

• Relational: the Father and us as children of God,

Our Father - Jesus taught them to pray together.    

hallowed be your name

• Hallowed to be given honor to be raised up over all names.  How do we do that? 

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven 

• That is how we hallow the name of the father, by seeking the kingdom here and now - just as Hail Caesar has definite political implications.

•  What does the Kingdom look like? We are invited to address the King, the Hallowed one as Father… making us part of the royal family.  A Kingdom where we have a stake in the kingdom, an inheritance if you will.  Not a Kingdom of the disenfranchised. 

• What if the will of the Father, the Kingdom looks like the rest of the prayer?

Give us this day our daily bread 

• We acknowledge the our daily needs are met by the father, not by Caesar, not by our economic systems

• In an agrarian society bread was the basis of the economy, of life, they tried to make Jesus King after he fed the 5000, bread here is a symbol of abundance.

and forgive us our debts 

• We acknowledge that we have been involved in that which is counter to the will of God, we’ve been disloyal to the Kingdom

as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

• Asking for Grace for ourselves we are called to extend that grace to others

• Having acknowledged that we get what we need from the father frees us to release those who 'owe us'.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

• I’ve been told the 'lead us not bit' is a bad translation - I'll leave that to those who are more qualified - but I read it as having acknowledged our unfaithfulness, our need of grace that we desire to grow in the kingdom and in God’s will. To be delivered from the evil we have been part of a delivered to a Kingdom of Grace.

The Lord’s prayer is a daily prayer, “Give us our daily bread”  So honouring our father in heaven, seeking the Kingdom, being forgiven and forgiving is something Jesus thinks we’ll need to do daily - so our need to be forgiven daily, that we fail daily is not news to Jesus, it has already been accounted for - and still we are invited to pray Our Father...

I’m wondering if part of the dailyness is that forgiveness is a process, it’s not something that I can do in one leap, oh you’re forgiven, it’s something I have to work at, and maybe that’s ok?  Maybe I realize my shortcoming of forgiveness today, seek forgiveness for that today, and seek to be delivered from my unforgiveness today, give thanks for that progress and repeat tomorrow?  

What does it mean to ask for our daily bread, not just my daily bread?  I’m thinking of the little free pantry, and the community garden would be part of that.

What does it mean to pray about forgiveness as a group, to admit our need for forgiveness and to forgive those who owe us.  Not just my debts, and debtors but our debts and debtors, our sins and those who have sinned against us.  Honestly I'm not sure what that looks like, but I can't escape that it's there.

To sum up:

Our daily focus is this: We honor the father by seeking the kingdom.  We seek the kingdom by admitting our dependence on the Father’s grace, sharing that grace with others and asking to be delivered from the evil that we have been part of.

- Peace

Accidental Eucharist Poetry

Rejoice, the Body of Christ broken for you.
Rejoice, the Blood of Christ shed for you.

I said these words while participating in the Eucharist at St. Bridgids.  St. Bridgids has a very inclusive approach to the table.  Anyone who is willing may come to the table.  Anyone who comes to the table is also a server.  The table is not a place of solitude, nor is it a place of hierarchy.  So as we began I asked the woman I'd be serving her name. Her answer "Rejoice".

Jordon Cooper's Funeral (A Review)

Ok I know it's strange to review a funeral.  Jordon had terminal cancer, he knew his time was limited, and he prepared a serious piece of art for his finale. It deserves to be recognized as such.  Because of the subject matter I've kept the monetizing links to a minimum.

Songs from Jordon's Chemotherapy Playlist were playing as we entered the Lakeview Church auditorium. The final song to play: OK Go's cover of The Muppet Show Theme song.

"It's time to get things started 

On the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational..."

I don't know about sensational or muppetational but inspirational and celebrational work well for a funeral.

Being a funeral there were eulogies, passionately delivered by Tammy Robert and Scott Williams.

The eulogies covered Jordon's time as a Student, Husband, Father, Future Mapper at Lake View Church, Blogger, Rural Pastor, Urban Church Planter, Safeway Employee, Activist, Side Hustler Extrodiar, Manger for Two Homeless Shelters, founder of a shelter for rape victims, Blogger, Urban Activist, Camera Salesman, Political Commentator, Lover of Saskatoon.


Oddly the Eulogy Jordon himself had written was not read.  Turns out Jordon removed it from the service in the interest of time.

There was a moving photographic salute by Jordon's son Mark Cooper.

What made the night a performance piece was Jordon's choice of 'The Prodigal  Son' as a theme.  The unlinkable Lee Cooper read the parable from Luke. The wonderfully bearded Jared Sibert delivered a homily on the Prodigal Son, covering the Parable, The Rembrandt painting and Canadian theologian Henri Nouwen's 1994 book The Return of the Prodigal Son.  Best sermon I've heard this year.  But then my church doesn't do sermons.  In summary Jordon was on a journey to become gracious like the father and in a fight not be like the elder son.

I'll insert here that I was and continue to be a recipient of Jordon's grace.  Back when blogging was thing, (2002) I started this humble blog, and started looking around for other Canadian Christian bloggers and found JordonCooper.com.  I figured out that Jordon was kinda a big deal when the New Your Times mentioned him in satirical bit covering blogs.  They described him along the lines of 'Books, Fundies make me angry, Hockey, Hockey' if I recall.  I know that when Jordon linked to a post my trafic went through the roof.  I even got a coveted spot on Jordon's blog roll.  Someone even created a Linked by Jordon Cooper icon.  However by the time the icon came out, I had been de linked by Jordon Cooper.  So I said so in the comments.  Soon after I was restored to Jordon's blog roll.  I never asked why, though he did once make a joke about it.  My read was the he put me back as an act of grace.  So the message of Grace that Jared adeptly delivered on Jordon's behalf resonated with me.

I was also with a friend who had been estranged from Jordon for about ten years, so I was very aware that grace is not simple or easy.  This reality was also acknowledged in the service.

Todd Peters performed a wonderful cover of Over the Rhine's All My Favorite People.


The whole song fit the night perfectly but the verse that stood out to me,

Orphaned believers
skeptical dreamers
Step forward
You can stay right here
You don't have to go

In many ways that summed up the community of people Jordon gathered online and in Saskatoon.

Indeed there was a wide range of people at the funeral, I'm told the Mayor of Saskatoon was there, the Premier of Saskatchewan sent flowers.  The young man next me in ripped jeans was greeted by name as he came in.  Not sure if he was homeless or a trendy church planter.  He gently snored through most of the service, don't read that as disrespect, but as someone who came for Jordon despite exhaustion.

There was a fabulous after party downstairs at Winston's.  More tributes from folks who knew Jordon as political commentator and activist.  There was a Conservative with Heart (who was mocked) and a Fiscally Responsible Socialist (who was mocked, really the jokes wrote themselves).

It was deeply moving to reconnect with Jordon and his community one last time.

You can support Wendy & the boys via the Jordon Cooper Family Relief Fund

- Peace

400km with Dave and Calvin

Was behind on my KM, so rode the river pathway from downtown, to Canyon Meadows and back north to Joey's Only on Macleod Trail.  33km in total; my longest ride this year.  Highwood pass was 36km, but I had over an hour rest at the summit, it really was two 18km rides.

Dave & Calvin came along, they had a much longer ride as they had at least 10km to get back home.

So I made the 400km goal by the end of May, not with much time or km to spare, but made it.  Next is to hit the 500km mark on the Goat Creek ride this Sat.

Should be good to hit 800km by end of June.

- Peace

Highwood Pass May 2016

Feeling amazing about this years Highwood Pass run.  Last year it killed me.  Just over 3 hours to climb the ~700m/17.5 km to the summit.  This year: 2:20 from King Creek (just outside the gate) to the picnic table at the summit.

Last year It took me 45 minutes to go from the summit back to the gate.  This year 33.5 minutes, and that's back to the car at King's creek.  (OK it's not far from the gate but stopping and getting through the gate adds time.

Doing the climb and the descent in 75% of time compared to last year feels amazing.  Did I mention how amazing it feels?  OK I know that 2:20 isn't a record for people doing the highwood pass, but then most people aren't my size so a direct comparison doesn't really apply.  

Random side story:

The first year I did over 3k in a year a guy at the bike shop said "I don't want to steal your thunder but I'm at 3200 for the year" 

Me: "Dude I'm three times your size (zero exaggeration), talk to me when you've done 9k" 

So why the big jump.  Whish I knew for sure.  I don't see why I'd be in better shape than last year.  Last year I hit 300km near the top.  This year I was at ~330km at the top.  Last year I used the winter tires and the foot straps, this year I had the summer slicks and the bike shoes - that would be part of it.  Helped that there was a tailwind on the steepest part of the climb - though that made the descent slower.  I also rode alone this year. I was expecting the rest of the group to catch up with me, so I started out early. That meant I just went at my own pace.  I didn't stop.  I got off and walked for bits (100-200m) and rode again, but I didn't stop.  Last year people took a couple of breaks, and then continued on faster than I could go.  I think not stopping and keeping warmed up worked much better for me.  Also the camera battery died after the above shot, so maybe not taking pictures helped my time.

Whatever the reason,  I was glad to be the one waiting at the summit for the rest of the group instead of being the one everyone was waiting for.

Other Random Notes

• Saw a grizzly on the side of the road driving up highway 40.  People were getting out of their cars to take pictures with their iphones and tablets.  Stupid people.
• There were snow flakes in the air at the summit.  Not a good year to have left my sweater at home.
• Someone wore  pants on their head.  We called this a pantouque. Non Canadians please see the Alberta Parks Touque.

- Peace

300km with Clement

Went to Vancouver to visit Sarah, but also got in a bike n brunch in with Clement.  Hit the 300km mark Sunday morning while riding Pacific Spirit Regional Park.  One of my favorite places.  Went to Jethro's on Dunbar afterwards.  They make huge pancakes, I wasn't able to finish one of the two that came with my order.

200km On Target

Hit the 200km mark on the way for coffee on 17th Ave.  That took me through Sunalta, one of the few communities in Calgary with tree covered streets.

I'm on target for 400km by the end of May.  So far so good.

Looking forward to riding in Vancouver on the long weekend.  Not sure if I can manage to hit a 100km mark while there.

- Peace

2016 First 100km, Goal and a Plan

Hit 100km for 2016 on the way to work this morning.  Only made it to 850km last year, and 250 of that was on vacation.  Never found my commuting grove last year.  So I'm feeling good that I've biked to work every day in May.  All three work days :)

Goal for 2016 is 1300km, 500 more than the last 100km mark from 2015.

The plan is:

• 400km by the end of May
• 800km by the end of June
• 1000km by the end of July
• 1400km by the end of Aug.

I really should be able to blow through the 1300km mark with ease.  I'll wait till I've done that before setting a new 2016 Goal for the fall.

- Peace

10 years, 2M views on Flickr

My photos on flickr racked up their 2 millionth view yesterday.  I don't know what picture got the magic 2 millionth view; I can say Fire was the mosted viewed image that day.

I've been on flickr since June of 2005, so that's just over 10 years now.  I hit 1 million views back in 2013 and I feel about the same with 2 million views.  Still 10 years with flickr deserves something  so here are my top photos in Explore by year going back to 2005. Explore is flickr's top 500 photos for the day the photo was uploaded.

Seattle Great Wheel : 2015 (so far) #205 in Explore. Only shot on the list taken with my new Pentax K3ii
Rob's Return: 2014, #41 I've previously blogged about Rob's Return, no surprise that it's on this list.
Giant Head, the Bow: 2013 #101 One of Calgary's most iconic public art installations in front of one of our most iconic building. With a ranking of 101 this tied with Jackrabbit Snow for 2014's highest rank in Explore.  I went with Giant Head as it as more than double the views.
London Eye Pod, 2012 #14 Taken from the top of the London Eye, on our trip to Europe to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. Flickr currently ranks this as my most interesting picture.
Green Points: 2011 #350 Taken on our trip up BC's Sunset Coast.  The only photo on this list taken with a Lensbaby. The second shot from BC to make this list.
Calgary Tower in Fog: 2010 #51 We don't get much fog in Calgary but when we do it can lead to some cool photos.
Action in Lane 20: 2009 #50 The Calgary Flickr Meet Up Group rented a bowling alley and I got this cool shot of the bright ball and pins falling. The only indoor shot to make the list.
Sky Canola: 2008 #350 Taken with my point and shoot while biking.  I didn't even stop to take this shot, just pointed the camera at the field and kept going. Flickr ranks this as my second most interesting shot of all time.
First Macro Experiment: 2007 #82 Flowers in the Quebec City Farmer's market.  I had just gotten my first SRL (Pentax's K10d).  I had gone to the market the day before, but went back with a macro lens to see if I could get better results - looks like I did :)
Queen of the Ducks: 2006 #107 Another Flickr Meetup group shot.  Fellow flickerite Lisataime brought seed to attract the ducks and I got in on the actions.
Street Humor: 2005 #97 On 17th ave.  I had to pay him to get this shot. Again taken while out the the Calgary Flickr Meet Up Group.  I do miss that group.  They had a huge impact on my photography.

This post made possible by Flickr Scout.

- Peace

300 km, 400 km, Group Rides and many Daves on Bikes

Hit the 300 km mark at the end of a ~700m climb up to the top of the Highwood pass.  Wow do I suck at climbing.  ~3 hours to go 17km.  Did the trip back down in ~45 minutes.

Thanks to the other Dave K. for organizing.




Hit the 400 km mark wile riding Goat Creek with David M. and 16 other riders + me for a total of 18.  I think that's a record number of riders for the Goat Creek ride.

100, 200 and the goal for 2015

Hit the first 100km of the 2015 riding season while doing a couple of loops around Vancouver's Stanley Park on the May Long weekend.  We had gone out to Vancouver to visit Sarah.

Started the day at about the 89km mark, and finished around the 154km mark.  It's was a good day.


Hit the 200km  today on the way back from Converge in Kensington.  Was stopped on the 7th St. Cycle track next to this cute dog in the bike basket.

So what's the 2015 goal?  Well last year I made it to 2100km.  I'll add 500 to that and aim for 2600km in 2015.

- Peace

Beauty - a Lenten poem

He had no form or comeliness That we should look at him, And no beauty that we should desire him. — Isaiah 53:2 

A whiff. A beagle for beauty I sniffed Monet’s haystacks, van Gogh’s sunflowers, 
Devoutly meditated Marilyn’s breasts, 
Watched kingfishers—lost the scent. 

Kiss the leper’s wound: taste honey. 
Touch the blind eye: learn Braille. 
Keep vigil at the cradle: change diapers.
Drink tears from the chalice: live eucharist. 

Happened on found things, found in gutters 
Found on a cross, found under a stone, 
Heard in the rustling grass, heard in 
A tongue stammering sabachthani. 
Found when I wasn’t looking, heard 
When I wasn’t listening. 
Found beauty.

- Beauty by Eugene Peterson

So far my favorite poem from Holy Luck by Eugene Person. Resonated with my understanding of Lent.  The giving up of what we normally seek so that beauty can find us.

- Peace

First Three Interesting Photos of 2015

I have a simple Groovy script that reads the flickr search api and tells me when photos break into my Top 500 in terms of interestingness.   (They really should update that page, there is no way it's a new feature.)

At the start of each year, I have this fear that I won't shoot anything interesting this year.  So it was relief when I ran the script today and three pictures from 2015 had made the top 500.

Spray Lakes by Moonlight Drove up to the spray lakes to take a shot of the Lights of Canmore, while there I spun around and took a shot of the north end of the Spray Lakes Reservoir.  It was a full moon or close to it, but the moon was behind the misty clouds that acted like a big diffuser.  This was an 8 second tripod exposure at 200 ISO. Had been warm that day, but temperature had dropped to -15 or so and the ice was cracking loudly.  Freaky.
Lights of Canmore The reason we had driven up the Spray Lakes was for this view.  Had shot something similar, free hand with my point & shoot as a 100km shot post Goat Creek in 2013. Knew it would be better with the K5-IIs and a tripod. Didn't know how the fact that it was snowing in Canmore would affect the shot, would we be able to see the town at all?  Still you don't know if you don't try.  Glad we did, the snow above the town created a wonderful glow.
Mixed Space A shot of the underside of Macleod Trail where it crosses Fish Creek Park. Used a couple of different filters to contract the natural and the concrete in the space.

Hand Writing Over 10,000 Views

Noticed that Hand Writing, a popular shot from 2009 had passed the 10,000 view mark.  I hadn't had a shot with over 10,000 views until Rob's Return did over 30k in a few days.

- Peace

Little Red Riding Hood Basket vs. Axe

Did a coplay concept shoot back in April while in Portland for a Wedding.  Connected with PiggyNukka/Fungila via ModelMayhem.

Said I would love to do something unique to Portland and she suggested shooting in one of parks Portland's rainforest parks.  I had had a concept of doing a Little Red Riding Hood shoot comparing the traditional LRRH with LRRH as the one with the axe.  The concept matched her location idea so that's what we did.

Posted the first ten shots to LRRH on flickr, I think they work.  More to come.

Backgrounds in the pics done with Topaz Impression software.

- Peace

Top Twelve Photos from 2014

My annual roundup of the top twelve shots from the previous year, as ranked by Flickr Interestingness

	Rob's Return: Currently ranked #3 shot of all time.  London Eye Pod is #1, Sky Canola  is #2. Shot at Rosen Lake in Aug. Only shot from the top 12 to get it's own blog post.
	Taken just mintures after Rob's Return, Water Radish ranks #6 on my all time list. The only other picture from 2014 to break the top 10 of my +7000 pictures on flickr
	On Lake Minnewanka: Taken in March in Banff. My top 3 shots are all lake shots. Hmmm
	Shale @ 1500km:  as the title suggests, taken at the 1500km mark for biking this year. Was coming down a logging road near lake Rosen. Same weekend as #1 & #2. It was a good weekend.
	Tram Into Rainbow Mist:  Jasper Sky Tram  shot during an inversion.  Clear sky above us, clouds below created the rainbow effect.
	Heading Down at 700km: taken while descending from the Highwood Pass just before it opened for traffic in May.  My top #6 were all taken in mountain regions.   Flickr also seems to like clouds, mountains and roads.
	Rosen Lake Morning (Ultra Wide): Taken in the same batch as #1 & #2, and the same weekend as #4.  Like I said good weekend.  Also, mountains, lake & clouds.
	Sea of Clouds: Clouds looking like a large lake.  Mountains in the distance.  How could it not be on the list? Shot in Jasper during the same inversion as Tram into Rainbow Mist.
	Stand Out: Siwash Rock taken while biking  the Stanley Park Seawall in Vancouver.  Reminds me of the Hopewell Flower Pots in NB. Clouds, mountains, path: check!
	Millrise Inukshuk: a neighbour created this Inukshuk from the compacted ice that he scraped off his sidewalk. Given it was taken in Calgary, it breaks the mountain region streak.  Still in tone it fits with many of the images to make the list. The ice/water/water vapour (clouds) theme holds. My only Calgary shot to make the list this year.
	Waiting to Cross: a grizzly bear  waiting to cross the Icefields Parkway.  Technically a horrible shot.  I was getting dark and the settings were from an hour or so ago.  Looked black on the camera, but it's amazing what software can do. Tonally it breaks the 2014 theme, but it has a grizzly!  It was taken in the mountains. so that holds.
	Maligne Lake & Mt Charlton:  from our visit to Jasper.  Also a good weekend.  As it produced four of the top twelve shots. Clearly a return to the lake & mountains theme.

The Good Lie Review

The marketing of the Good Lie creeps me out.  A story of the Lost Boys of Sudan has Reese Witherspoon's air brushed photo on the cover.  The trailer above is a great example of this, it has 90% of her dialog from the entire movie.  That makes up most of the trailer, it is a minor part of the movie.

If you get past the Hollywood wrapper you get understated look at strangers in a strange land that has sublime moments of just how strange America is.  This isn't a polished movie, the plot threads don't come together perfectly, and we don't see the resolution of everyone's story.  But a polished RomCom approach wouldn't have fit this story, though from the trailer you know someone really wanted it to be a RomCom.

The heart and soul of The Good Lie are the Lost Boys played by actual Lost Boys.  Their authenticity  overcomes the Hollywood trapping that want to undermine this movie.  Despite my deep reservations about so much of the movie, the honesty and charm of the three main characters won me over.  I really enjoyed the The Good Lie.

The Good Lie could have been, maybe should have been a darker more complex movie, but then I doubt the story would have found the audience it has.  The Lost Boys of Sudan is a story that deserves an audience and The Good Lie is a safe feel good introduction.

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of the Blue Ray/DVD combo to review.  I was also given a copy to give away.  The Good Lie comes out on Blue Ray/DVD Today [Dec 23]

- Peace