Definition of a Gentleman?
Yesterday afternoon John, my 2 1/2 year old, asked for an orange. After I gave him the peeled orange, he very politely said, "Hank oo, Mama," with a big smile as he always does. I said, "John, you are such a gentleman; you are always sweet to Mama."

"I sweet to Mama?"

"Yes, you are." John brings flowers to me almost every day. He always comes to me with a big smile and a hug when he wakes up from his nap, and he always says, "Hank oo, Mama," when I do anything for him.

John thought about this for a moment while chewing his orange, then he said, "I mean to montsuhs! [monsters]."

My three boys spend a lot of their free time slaying dragons and fighting orcs in our back yard.

"Yes, you are. You are mean to monsters, but you are sweet to Mama and your sisters."

How's that for a working definition? A gentleman is mean to the monsters and sweet to the ladies. :-)

You've got to read this.
It's even better than my story was.

Towards a Theology of Architecture

Is architecture a moral issue? Buildings can be put to immoral use, but does that mean that the building in and of itself is immoral?

If we're talking about styles of architecture, some are surely more pleasing than others.

This building
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is certainly superior to this building.
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It's likely that the theology behind the first building is superior to the theology behind the second, but now we're talking about the building's use, not just the building itself.

Everything about the cathedral points to the beauty, the majesty, and the transcendance of Almighty God, whereas the metal building looks like a warehouse. Come to think of it, it would make a fine warehouse, and the cathedral would make a sorry one because the construction would imply that we're worshipping the stuff it's storing, but that doesn't say anything about any inherent morality of the building.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have buildings that were built for an evil purpose: pagan temples, gas chambers.... And now I am reminded of how I phrased my second question: in and of itself. Particular buildings cannot be taken "in and of themselves," but they are bound up with the purpose of their construction, and therefore can be called moral or immoral.

What about architectural syles? When we say that Gothic is good because it's beautiful and Bauhaus is bad because it's ugly, is that a moral judgment?

Boy howdy!
In Texas they do everything big. This afternoon, one of my children came in the house with a dandelion puff that was (I am not making this up!) three inches across! If I were really smart, I'd get a picture online for y'all to look at.

Well, I suppose this fits...
...considering the last quiz made me a Numenorean


Well, u-- um, can we come up and have a look?


What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Found at Barb's blog.)

Christ is Risen!

Good Christian men, rejoice and sing!
Now is the triumph of our King!
To all the world glad news we bring:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Lord of life is ris'n for aye;
bring flow'rs of song to strew his way;
let all mankind rejoice and say:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Praise we in songs of victory
that love, that life which cannot die,
and sing with hearts uplifted high:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thy name we bless, O risen Lord,
and sing today with one accord
the life laid down, the life restored:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

~Cyril A. Arlington

My kids just plugged Shadowlands in to the VCR. The opening sequence makes me wish that I was an Anglican. And that colleges were not co-ed.

My inquisitive little boy
This morning John inspired me to write a new verse for Larry the Cucumber's "I Love My Lips" song.

When I was two less than four
I got my lip stuck in the door
And it hurt bad
I was not glad

I've never written lyrics before -- what do y'all think about it? And is artistic inspiration always this traumatic?

That was fast!
Valerie sent me her copy of G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy last week and it got here today! The book has a lovely Old Book smell, and just reading over the chapter titles is making me quiver with anticipation -- The Maniac, The Suicide of Thought, The Ethics of Elfland (oooh that one sounds really good!), The Flag of the World, The Paradoxes of Christianity, The Eternal Revolution, The Romance of Orthodoxy (I wonder if that's where Sarah's quote came from?), Authority and the Adventurer.

Thank you, thank you, Valerie!

Update
I have read nearly 30 pages this evening, and I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to read a book that has no split infinitives. ;-)

"Quality Worship Artwork"???
How ironic that that's what's being advertized in the banner. If they only knew how I've been complaining this week about this happening in the base chapel, they'd have been afraid to put it there.