Yeah, I’ve been really slack lately about blogging. What I am wondering now is if blogging from my iPhone will increase my output, or just increase my nerd cred? I guess we are about to find out.

Yeah, I know.  I’ve not been climbing anywhere near long enough to start choosing which routes qualify for the term “classic”.  I’ll let other folks do that for now.  Today, along with guide Richard Behne (he did a fantastic job), I had the pleasure of climbing a route that had already been dubbed such.  At his suggestion, after warming up on Belly Button Brigrade (a three pitch 5.7 slab route), we took on Little Dutch Boy.  If I remember correctly, what he told me before we climbed it was something like, “oh, the second pitch is like a 5.9 or something, but you’ll be fine”.  What followed was a sweet 3-pitcher following a quartz dyke along the face of Brittaina Rock at Paarl Rock.  You can see pics of other folks on the route here.  There were just the two of us, so there were not to be any pics of the two of us climbing.  I like the way those that bolted the route describe it (from samountainmag.com):

Opposite Sunset Warrior is a distinctive quartz dyke that, like former NP politicians, goes from right to left. However, it didn’t quite reach the top of ther dome, but where it became horizontal it seemed like the angle was fairly gentle and it would be possible to friction climb from the dyke to the summit. So one day, Jono Fisher and myself got to work. We tied a number of ropes together and trailed them down from the trig beacon at the top of Britagne Rock. The abseil to check out the route was rather entertaining. Jono and I were on separate ropes next to each other. As our ropes abraded and slipped across the rough granite we got into a discussion about UIAA rope ratings, mantle strains and abseil fatalities. We survived the recce and armed with hardware store drilling systems we returned and began whacking away. Jono bolted the bottom bit and said that the splinters of quartz would offer fantastic protection. I bolted the top crux pitch, which was about 25 meters long and involved some delicate climbing. I placed about three bolts and examined my handiwork. I figured that if you fell off near the bolts you’d be okay-ish; but if you fell just before clipping them, you’d at least have a good pub story. Andy Wood was at the bottom shouting advice and after a few hours we felt like the job was done.
All that was left was to climb the route. I lead the first pitch and failed to find any snazzy gear placements. One bolt was clipped and the sling I wrapped around something fell off. Jono lead the crux. I impatiently shouted up for him to hurry up. When it came to my turn to follow I was amazed at his boldness. The climbing was trickier than it looked and off balance. It was an incredible lead. The third pitch was easy, but a touch dirty. A few minutes of cleaning would have made a world of difference. The route was done in a morning. We called it Little Dutch Boy. It had to do with boys and dykes, but the meaning was lost on me.
A few years later two more bolts were added to the second pitch, however it still remained fairly bold and a huge flake near the top had also peeled off. The route was later soloed by Chris Lomax. I was young and competitive, so soloed it too. Looking back, it rates as one of my dumber achievements. Recently, the route was totally rebolted and instantly gained classic status.

I followed the route, and that was clench-worthy enough for me.  Because much of the route is traversing along the dyke, any falls on follow are going to take you to well below the next bolt, and more importantly well below the features the dyke offers.  Without the dyke, a near featureless, near vertical slab awaits.  Apparently it was motivation enough.  Other than a small stumble early in the first pitch, this was a fall free day.  Best of all, I took a look at the guidebook when I got done.  Seems Richard’s memory of route ratings was not all that good.  It turns out Little Dutch Boy is a South African 20.  That’s 5.10c to you and me.  Dang.

Working with students has some rewards for those that participate in it that are immediate, such as seeing students gain a greater understanding of God and His plan in their life, seeing them laugh, seeing them compete, watching them mature…  But there are other rewards as well.  For instance, keeping up with those students as they move into adulthood, attending college, choose majors, careers, and enter the working world.

My Memorial Day weekend offered a couple of those fantastic moments.  I got to spend part of Saturday working with Michael on the program he and I are collaborating on for our respective summer camps (he is also a youth minister).  Monday, I travelled to Alabama with Brooke and Andy to spend the day rock climbing.  Good times.  These folks were inspiring in their pursuit of God in their lives as students, and they continue to be as they do so on the long road of adulthood.  

God is good.  All the time.

So its been 15 forevers since I posted.  Whatever.

I’ve been reading some pretty cool books of late.  What has made the experience particularly enjoyable is the fact that I’ve been trying to more consistently read things that took me to new places.  Sometimes that means authors I know little about beyond their reputation.  Sometimes it means choosing a book because I wan’t to hear a contrarian point of view.  Still others, I am on one of my financially crippling forays into the bowels of my local bookstore (yes, bookstores have bowels).  Experiments don’t always work out as well as these, but the last few months has me on a really good streak.  Given that introduction, here is the first of several reviews on books I’ve recently read.

One of the side effects I’ve noticed since becoming a veggie several years ago is that it makes you pay significantly more attention to what you eat.  I will also admit to having decided to wage my own personal war against everyone involved in the oil extraction, refinement, distribution, and extortion trade.  Eating food grown close to me seems like a pretty good addition to my arsenal in this Quixotic quest.  For these reasons, along with the fact that I could hold a few more pounds of book-weight before encumbrance would drive me to the bookstore checkout, I was intrigued by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  Reading the back cover reveals it as a memoir of an author, (Barbara Kingsolver, who also wrote The Poisonwood Bible, among others) as she and her family undertake a personal challenge to go an entire year with virtually all of the food they eat having been grown within 100 miles or so of their own home (often on their own farm).  The book is not the story alone however, but rather an unequal sampling of retelling of the experience, some educational sections about how food is made/grown/distributed, some pretty hefty preaching about the evils of “big food” corporations, as well as some recipes and additional points of view from her eldest daughter and husband.  While some of the preaching was a bit heavy handed, my only real complaint is that I wanted more of the story of her year-long experiment.  Its not that she didn’t adequately cover the subject (she did this quite well), but rather that she was exceptionally good when writing of the search for morels, preparing her garden for time away on vacation, or sharing details of the community in which they live.  One of the marks of a great books is feeling a bit disappointed when you reach then end, knowing there will be no more.  While I didn’t feel I needed any more details on chickenhouse conditions on a CAFO or the latest on seed patent legislation, I did long to know how the next generation of turkeys fared and if they made a good choice on the rooster they kept.  In fairness, even the somewhat momentum breaking sermonizing was rather educational.  I’d give the book a 7/10 for general reading, and 9 if you long to know more about what might be produced in a year on a Virginian farm, the local/slow food movement, and the dangers of mega-producers.  (BTW, there is also a website for those interested in the topic.

I’m still not very good at it, but I do enjoy rock climbing. One thing that works to my advantage is that there aren’t many folks my age climbing in some of the competitions. I didn’t expect them to report so much detail on how things ended. You have to read all the way to the end of the story for the best part.

One of the more well-known megachurches in the US is Willow Creek Community Church. This past year, they completed and published a self assessment that among other things, looked at the correlation of ministry dollars spent and growth in spirtual maturity. The results of the WCCC were definitely one of the more interesting developments in the past year. The results basically said that the correlation was extremely weak, if not non-existent. Since then, folks have reacted in a number of ways. The good conversations (like the one that finally moved me to write about this) have been about “what does this mean for God’s church writ large?” Others have been more along the lines of: “See, we were right all along, you mega/contemporary/business thinking churches stink” I don’t think these voices are the loudes more most numerous, but there are plenty out there who have and will continue to use the results that way.

One of the discussions that is being stimulated by the results is about the issue of balance between churches focusing on discipleship and being “seeker friendly”, with an inherent assumption (somewhat accurate) that many of the newer megachurches are build on the idea of seeker friendlyness. To me, this particular issue is not so much a church size issue as a choice-of-focus challenge. Churches can either choose to be specialized or generalized. They can specialize in introducing and converting followers to Christ or specialize in providing opportunities for Christians to become deeper disciples of Christ. To choose to do both is by definition generalization. Each approach has its trade-off. Add to that questions like “contemporary or traditional”, “sacred dance or childrens choir”, “liturgical or not-so-much”. The more of these questions a church says “both” or “all of the above” to, the more generalized they become. A hard truth about generalization is that the more of it you do, the less likely that you will do any one thing with excellence. Churches (large and small) have a very hard time with that. When your beloved charter member comes up to you and says “God has put it on my heart to start an alto-only-Gregorian-chant-a-capella-contemporary-praise-band”, its always going to be difficult to say, “That’s fantastic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with the kind of church we are, but the one down the street would be a perfect fit.” Because of this dynamic, most churches are going to trend towards generalization as they mature. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. However, it leaves you at the risk that a) you may not reach the potential you would have if you kept it simpler and b) you may loose sight of why you are doing the endless variety of programming in the first place.

Ultimately, the most telling thing about the Willow Creek report is that they asked the question. Its very easy for a church to get in the mode of “I’m doing it for God, so it HAS to be good”. They asked the question “what are we getting back on the talents we’ve invested”, and that is a lesson from which we could all benefit.

Science is facts; just as houses are made of stones, so is science made of facts; but a pile of stones is not a house and a collection of facts is not necessarily science.
- Henri Poincare

My neocon friends will no doubt be mortified to learn that I have actually been looking forward to seeing this movie. After all, I have been an active Republican in the past, and would still describe myself as being a conservative. That being said, I’ve also proclaimed for some time that I believe that if the Republican party cannot wake up to the very real issues (and foolishness of some of their positions) surrounding the issues of health care and public education, they face the very real possibility of some significant sideline time in the very near future.

In addition to my belief that these issues are being bungled by the party, you can certainly include exposure to the plight of my parents (Dad is self employed and has cancer) as well as friends that have struggled with availability of insurance or its insufficiency through major medical events as contributing factors. We’re not talking about uneducated, unemployed drains on the common good (assuming the common conservative assumption). We’re talking about well educated (the three examples closest to me all have college degrees), gainfully employed contributers to society. And yet, despite good planning and hard work, they can’t get the health care you would expect their efforts to warrant.  I have also personally experienced the joys of managed care, as on several occasions my doctor has sent me to tests he knows are pointless, but the insurance companies stipulate as necessary precursors to the tests he knows I need.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t know that I have the answer to the insurance debacle. But I do know that the current answer sucks. What’s worse, it seems to suck with a bit more enthusiasm each year. Given that, it is time for something different.

It was with these things in mind that I watch my Blockbuster-delivered edition of Michael Moore’s latest hit piece this week, with more that a bit of gleeful anticipation. At last, he would be lining up his admittedly vicious cross-hairs with an industry that had fallen out of favor with me.

I watched the whole thing in one sitting, which I had not planned to do. A bit one night, some more the next, like a bed side read, I thought. As it turned out, curiosity for the next stunt kept me watching until completion. Unfortunately, stunts were exactly what I got. That doesn’t mean the movie was ineffective. In fact, with a bit of editing, it could have been considerably more powerful that Al Bore’s pseudo science standard. The bits of the movie that focused on the American health care system, and that of the 51st state (Canada) were particularly powerful. It was in the “Let’s take America’s 911 heroes to Cuba for treatment” stunt that Moore weakened his own work. It was a meaningless gesture, as the idea of Americans getting better treatment elsewhere had already been clearly covered in sections on Canada, Britain, and France without the melodrama. I went into the movie with an open mind and a willing heart, but still couldn’t help feeling the Cubans in the piece looked a bit to much like they had been propped up there by Castro’s propaganda machine. That’s not to say that free health care doesn’t exist in Cuba, just that Moore made himself a tool by allowing himself to be so clearly used.

The reason that the bits on America, Canada, and Britain were so effective were that they showed vaunted America doing a rotten job of caring for its own.  The thing that made Moore’s efforts in this regard work was that as he points out as some of the first dialog in the movie, he was NOT talking (for the most part anyway) about the uninsured portion of America.  He focused (in the American bits) almost exclusively on the INSURED and how insurance companies systematically endeavored to deny needed care to the people who PAID FOR IT.  In what was probably the most interesting question he asked the entire show, Moore inquired (with a melodramatic montage as backdrop) how we as a people declare public health care is socialist, and then celebrate our public police and fire coverage.  It’s only an interesting question if you are one of those that insists on philosophical purity.

To sum up, I leave the following messages:

To those that have not seen the movie: regardless of your perspective, its an interesting movie.  Definately structured to intrigue.  It will provoke some reaction in you.  Whether that be pity, rage, indignance, or shame is left to you.

To Michael Moore: when you have made your point powerfully, shut up.  Don’t feel like the movie has to be 90 minutes or more if 60 minutes drives home your point, and 90 minutes looses your audience.

To Republicans: wake up and do something or you will start losing and may not stop for some time.

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/home.php

(ht dewde)

One of those “quote of the day” quotes:

The price of freedom of religion, or of speech, or of the press, is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish.
  – Robert Jackson

The part about the press is particularly true.