I just want to say, I think the Office has improved a lot this season.  Last week's episode was great once again - I loved the focus on Andy and Oscar for a change.  I am hoping they will bring it back to more office-wide episodes like the basketball one, the office olympics, and the christmas party.  Seems like everyone's scattered in the latest episodes.  But hey, I'm just glad they didn't try to bring back Karen Filipelli while Pam was out of town.

I would like to pay tribute to September, since I'm feeling especially good about the changing season upon us.  Please add to the list of reasons why you feel September is the best month. Here are mine:

1. My wife's birthday is in September, when God thought of her and very likely planned this marriage, and I won and she got hosed on the deal.
2. My brother Nick's birthday is in September, and he is finally in his 20s!
3. Football season begins Sept 4 (GO SKINS!)
4. All the shows come back, most notably The Office.
5. Memories of college flood my mind.
6. The Schwetty factor drops dramatically.
7. Labor Day Weekend - last call for the beach!
8. The beginning of cool breezes (for like a day or two), in conjunction with the drop in the Schwetty factor.
9. September is the gatekeeper of the Fall, my favorite season.
10. September marks the end of the pennant race in MLB - GO TWINS!  (woah, my favorite teams rhyme)
11. Food tastes better in September, probably because of the Schwetty factor also.
12. It has the word "ember" in it, which makes me think of guitars and s'mores.

Lately I've been thinking, obedience to the Lord is first the right attitude (or is it perspective?), and second it's all about trying to understand what the Bible says and what it doesn't say.  I remember seeing a special on TV a few months ago about our vision and how our brains assume things that didn't really happen so that the world makes sense when we don't really see what happened.  For example, it's really pretty hard in baseball to "keep your eye on the ball", though the coach stresses it over and over.  The truth is that the ball reaches a point where you can't see it anymore - or good enough to know exactly where it is in the imaginary box known as the strike zone.  (That's a deep thought - when I'm batting, I'm thinking in 2-D and 3-D at the same time!)  So what can you do?  Your brain actually supplies a solution:  it fills in the gap of where it thinks it should be - and then you swing and miss.  Enough practice and your brain starts to guess right. 

I wonder if I read the Bible like that.  I don't understand something, so I fill in the gaps.  I paint a picture that is possibly wrong so I can get through the story.  I may get the moral or I may find one powerful scripture to guide me, but I wonder how far I skew things.  This question is another example.

I have loved Ray Vanderlaan's teaching on Jesus as Rabbi for a couple of years now.  I just found and read a blog that positions itself against these teachings, and I had to agree on some major points.  If you are fascinated by the question, "Was Jesus a Rabbi?", then check out the links on my nav bar.  First have fun with Follow the Rabbi.  Then after pondering these thoughts check out the Blog against Follow the Rabbi.  I would love for you to post your thoughts here.

I've been thinking about Archaeology lately. Did anyone see the National Geographic special on Stonehenge? It was great... there's a new theory that it was a place for the dead, more spiritual than functional like the calendar idea.

I am very curious about Ark of the Covenant lately, because I was reading the Old Testament and it really sparked my interest. You can feel free to post any thoughts here on the Ark. I know Heather will have something witty about it.

What are your archaeological fascinations?