I was just looking through photo’s the other day and found this one from a camping trip this summer with Jon Kontz. There was a bear warning for the area so we were a little on edge in the first place. After setting up camp, we went down to the river to get some water. On the way back we came across this… You might have to enlarge the photo to see it.

It looked like a half eaten deer carcass. I am not sure what is worse, coming across a mother bear with her cub or interrupting a bear from its meal! I saw a fight once from an old discovery channel show, between a wolverine and a bear over a kill and it wasn’t nice. Anyway, we had to get back to camp so we kept moving. Turns out, it was an old red and brown tent caught in the bushes! Worried for nothing!

Jon is in France now and just getting into language study at a university there. He just got his blog up and running… You can check it out http://jkontz.blogspot.com

Well, life has been too busy these days and this blog has suffered for it. I had this typed up a while ago but never did post it… so I thought I would now,

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I thought this was really cool… It was about the Roman triumph and how big of a deal it was for a Roman general to receive one. If a general won a great victory he would be awarded a triumph in Rome. These were relatively rare events so it was a special honor.

“The figure of the triumphator stood out clearly, because he wore the gold and purple costume of the old kings, he painted his face to resemble the cult statue of Jupiter Best and Greatest in the temple on the Capitoline Hill, and he rode a four-horse hariot, just as did representations of the god.” Boatwright, Talbert, Gargola, The Romans From Village to Empire

Appian describes the triumph that occured after Scipio Africanus defeated the Carthaginians,

He (Scipio Africanus) wore a crown of gold and precious stones, and was dressed, in a traditional fashion, in a purple toga woven with golden stars. He carried a scepter of ivory, and a laurel branch, which is invariably the Roman symbol of victory. Appian, Punic Wars 66

And then there is Jesus triumph. It almost seems as though Jesus purposely chose to enter Jerusalem in such a way to contrast with the pomp and vanity of a Roman triumph. Here is the one who had proven beyond all doubt that he is God with us, riding into Jerusalem on a humble donkey; a colt that had never been ridden before. Jesus didn’t need to apply makeup and wear a costume to look like a god. His words and works had validated his claim to deity. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the cheers of a people that were defeated and beaten down. All of it was so… un-Roman.

yet its amazing to think that his humble entry into Jerusalem was a fulfillment of a prophecy made centuries before by Zechariah,

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zech. 9:2

Mom dug these out of the closet the other day. They brought back some difficult memories. Those that know me might be surprise to find out that one of my first business ventures was in ladies fashion accessories. I learned some valuable lessons from this experience.

1) stick to what you know
2) earrings the size of pie plates are out of style even if they are hand made by villagers on an exotic island from very cool turtle shell and mother of pearl.
3) the dream of instant riches as women crowd my booth at the flea market waving their wallets was… a dream.
4) the ladies fashion accessories industry is notoriously unpredictable
5) but that doesn’t matter because I had no way of predicting it anyway
5) stick to what you know

If anybody would like to buy some earrings from me, I have special price. : ) 50% discount or better… lol

Quebecs only group of Mennonites is leaving Quebec. Why? Because they have a school in which reading, writing, math, science, geography, social sciences and music is taught… but not in accord with the official Quebec school curriculum. The Mennonites disagree with the curriculum on these points: Its emphasis on evolution, the morality standards it promotes and the acceptance of what is deemed ‘alternative lifestyles’. Quebecs Minister of Education, Francois Lefebvre, defends the decision too shut down the school,

“We are not trying to prevent them from living their life the way they want, but they have to obey the law when it comes to educating their kids,”

…as though the way we educate our kids has nothing to do with our lifestyles!

The province has threatened legal proceedings that could lead to “children being taken from their parents.” Welcome to the new and tolerant world.

This is an interesting article by J. Gresham Machen. Most of it is about his love of mountains and mountain climbing but having described his ascent up the Matterhorn, he relays some of his thoughts from the top as he looked over France, Germany and Italy… in 1933. At the time of writing he couldn’t have known that all three nations along with the rest of the world would soon be caught up in the worst war ever fought.

What will be the end of that European civilization, of which I had a survey from my mountain vantage ground—of that European civilization and its daughter in America? What does the future hold in store? Will Luther prove to have lived in vain? Will all the dreams of liberty issue into some vast industrial machine? Will even nature be reduced to standard, as in our country the sweetness of the woods and hills is being destroyed, as I have seen them destroyed in Maine, by the uniformities and artificialities and officialdom of our national parks? Will the so-called “Child Labor Amendment” and other similar measures be adopted, to the destruction of all the decencies and privacies of the home? Will some dreadful second law of thermodynamics apply in the spiritual as in the material realm? Will all things in church and state be reduced to one dead level, coming at last to an equilibrium in which all liberty and all high aspirations will be gone? Will that be the end of all humanity’s hopes? I can see no escape from that conclusion in the signs of the times; too inexorable seems to me to be the march of events. No, I can see only one alternative. The alternative is that there is a God—a God who in His own good time will bring forward great men again to do His will, great men to resist the tyranny of experts and lead humanity out again into the realms of light and freedom, great men, above all, who will be messengers of His grace. There is, far above any earthly mountain peak of vision, a God high and lifted up who, though He is infinitely exalted, yet cares for His children among men.

What have I from my visits to the mountains, not only from those in the Alps, but also, for example, from that delightful twenty-four-mile walk which I took one day last summer in the White Mountains over the whole Twin Mountain range? The answer is that I have memories. Memory, in some respects, is a very terrible thing. Who has not experienced how, after we have forgotten some recent hurt in the hours of sleep, the memory of it comes back to us on our awaking as though it were some dreadful physical blow. Happy is the man who can in such moments repeat the words of the Psalmist and who in doing so regards them not merely as the words of the Psalmist but as the Word of God. But memory is also given us for our comfort; and so in hours of darkness and discouragement I love to think of that sharp summit ridge of the Matterhorn piercing the blue or the majesty and the beauty of that world spread out at my feet when I stood on the summit of the Dent Blanche.

Bob Parker with the American Physical Society had this posting in his weekly newsletter:

MARTIANS: THE PHOENIX MARS LANDER IS TO BE LAUNCHED TOMORROW.

How can it be that 30 years after the Viking landings on Mars we still don’t know if there is life on our nearest neighbor? What have we been doing? Life to which we are not related may be the most important quest in science. It would put in perspective the foolish philosophical musings about “purpose” that over the ages led to spilling the blood of countless millions – and still takes lives. Perhaps then we could get on with making the most of the wonderful cosmic accident of life on Earth.

But wait a sec!!! Mr. Parker, what if there is no life on Mars? What if we discover that earth is a lonely little planet in our solar system graced with liquid h20 and a healthy atmosphere just right for the existence of life? What do we say then? This is all an accident? Well there are some things you just gotta believe…

For the 3 astronauts in Apollo 8, orbiting the moon for the first time in history, that wasn’t good enough.

Jon Kontz, a good buddy from PBU came up for the a few days. We drove into the Valley of the Ten Peaks and then hiked across Sentinel Pass into Paradise Valley. It was an amazing trip!

On our way up Sentinel Pass

The other side of the pass

It was an incredible place for a campsite!

We developed an new procedure called CBR = Coffee Bean Resusitation

Paradise Valley
1 Minute timer and a mad scramble! : )

I took some pictures tonight of a prototype that I am sending to China tomorrow, just in case I never see it again… I have a bronze foundry in Xi’an that will produce them. Xi’an is an ancient city in inland China that used to lie at the end of the Silk Road so its kind of an interesting place to manufacture something like this.

The menorah on the Arch of Titus used to be the ultimate symbol of defeat for the Jewish people. When Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD he carried off at least some of the temple furniture. Among the items we know he took was the menorah. To commemorate his victory, he had a relief carved on an archway in Rome depicting soldiers carrying off the temple treasures.

In 1948, when the Jews once again returned to their homeland they used the menorah from the Arch of Titus as their national emblem. They took what was once the symbol of a defeated and destroyed nation and made it the symbol of the newly founded state of Israel. This after 2000 years!

The menorah is an amazing reminder of Gods faithfulness to his promises. Even the skeptic Mark Twain recognized how unique the Jewish people were.

“The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away. The Greek and Roman followed, made a vast noise and they are gone. Other peoples have sprung up, and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out and they sit in twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal, but the Jew. All other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Blaise Pascal was asked by the king of France for proof of the supernatural. Pascal answered: “Why, the Jews, your Majesty — the Jews.”

If God has kept his promises to the Jews, its encouraging to know that he will do the same in our own lives.

“But we know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

I had another great week with a great group of guys.

We went climbing a mountain one day. It was hot and we were thirsty but we made it! From left to right – Double D, Travis, Ben, Matt, David, Me, Rylan, Devon

From the top!

The poster boys for the tabernacle. : ) We had some good discussions in the cabin.

Campfire at Caroline. I learned a new song…

Raisins, they make, the raisin bran so great! Raisins, they make, the raisin bran so great.! More raisins, much more raisins! More raisins, much more raisins!…. Sppppoooon!!!!

I just got back from camp and have a few pictures that I promised the guys I would put up on my blog. So – Squared, Stretch, Neutron, Spike, Samba, DB, Hawks – thanks for a great week! I hope you guys learned something and had a good time!

The canoe outrip. We battled wind and waves (ok, maybe just wind, and then skeeters that threatend to carry off some of the smaller campers.

Brett aka DB on the lookout for dangerous marine life.

Cabin 106 getting ready for a skit.

Matt – aka Hawks was a talented artist who put his skill to good use.

Connor – aka Neutron… laughing.

On the way to ridge.

Connor – aka Squared losing his concentration on the belay line. Nice jump Matt!

Mitch – aka Stretch on the zip line.

Sam and Zack aka – Samba and Spike in Talent Night.

Our daily game of slaps… we got pretty good by the end.

PS – Connor and Connor, before you ask, – “I am doing good” and “I want 20 thingamabobs” : )