Second Coming

I've been reading Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a great book in which he outlines how four different meals (categorized as "industrial," "industrial organic," organic, and hunter-gatherer) go from ground to plate. He's a great writer and teaches journalism at UC Berkely, which means he includes a tremendous amount of background for every little detail.

Anyway, Joel Salatin, a "beyond organic" farmer in VA, hosts him in one of the many adventures to really experience the local food movement. Salatin is a third generation farmer, whose Christian worldview informs every detail of his farming. Seeing his farm through Pollan's words reminded me of something I'd thought before I started my program here at Vanderbilt- my very reason for coming to study economic development in the first place.

Spending my early life as a Christian in a somewhat fluffy evangelicalism instilled the notion in me that one day Christ would return, put the bad guys in their place, then whisk the repentant righteous away to an other-worldly heaven. Not so. This isn't the promise of the Bible at all.

Heaven is the location of God's throne, and the promise of Revelation is not that we will we translated from this realm to some other, but that we will be transformed. Jesus isn't coming to take us away. He's coming back to stay and make his blessings known as far as the curse is found, i.e. where the land bears thorns and briars. Where we are is where we will be.

A few years ago I re-read the parable of the Master who leaves his servants in charge of his estate while he is away- to one he gives ten, to another five, and to the last he gives one. I had always interpreted "talents" (which is actually a large weight of precious metal) to mean skills, abilities, and opportunities. The parable was purely spiritual and relational. My hermeneutic was only a little different, but the ramifications were universal.

If this earth is Jesus estate, to which He is indeed returning, the parable must mean that Christ has expectations of a physical, tangible, visible, and meaningful increase on what he has given us to steward.

I'm still working out what this means to us in terms of how we deal with the physical world. How do I make an increase Christ will appreciate on my stuff- or to my stuff- or with my stuff?
Socially, it also makes me question whether Christ will judge us by the terrible soil erosion we have caused to his beautiful estate.

Crumbling

I have ranted thousands of times about the subtle numbing effect of technology. For all of you who've suffered my harangueing, now is your time to gloat...

Today I joined Facebook.

A few days ago my brother gave me a call with a bit of shocking news. Two German friends of mine, with whom I've had little to no contact in the last five years, messaged him on facebook to ask if he was my brother (There were until today, only two other Kramedjians on Facebook.) and if he could get into contact with me for them.

So, he gave me an e-mail address and I got back into contact with one of these friends. Here's the catch- she said that I'd have to join facebook if I wanted to get in touch with Jo. Stinkin' dirty.

I crumbled. Please no one tell Wendell Berry.

powerless

I haven't hid in a closet since I was a little kid. Closets seemed so much bigger back then. Big enough for two even, and a dog. That's not the case any more.

Della, Georgia and I had to squeeze into our hall closet last night during a tornado warning. While we were crouched/squished in there the power went out and has been out since. I'm writing this from school.

All in all, though, I enjoyed having the power out. It gave us a chance to notice the green lightning after the storm passed by. I felt so stress free. No tv. No internet. No outside world. Just me my wife and my dog.

Strangely, that made me feel more connected to the outside world. The physical world felt more real once I was disconnected to the electronic one. Maybe Marshall McLuhan would say that this was the passing of the numbness brought on by the illusion of the world in media.

Oh the games we play

Hola Peoples,

Della and I just had some friends over for dinner and a movie, which turned into dinner and a game. We made Pesto pizza, with homemade pesto, feta spinach chicken sausage, chunks of feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and artechoke hearts. Nice eats. Our friends brought over a bottle of wine, too. Yes....

After dinner, we played some Phase 10. It's a decent game. You should try it. 

That's all for tonight,

Krammy