Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know that I did. Services on Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day were great, I really enjoyed them. I am really glad that my church decided to have services on Sunday (see “No Christmas For You” for the some discussion on the original decision to be closed for Christmas). There was actually a very good turn out for the morning service (yay!). Our family gatherings were fun (even if overwhelming at times). I am looking forward to heading down to Woodland to see more family either tomorrow night or Wesnesday morning. Yay for Christmas!

I have never been tagged before, but apparently, it was the time for that! Laura of Pursuing Holiness has tagged me! As a respectable blogger [heh], I have taken up the challenge. My answers are in no particular order unless a particular order makes me seem more pious and holy.

7 things to do before I die:

Travel the world (nice and generic, eh?)

Get married (or a date would be nice…)

Have kids (although the previous thing might need to come first)

Serve God well (hopefully more of an ongoing thing)

See the Holy Land (kinda part of the first thing, but not)

Learn the order of the books of the Bible! (Yes, I am in Seminary)

Do more (and sell?) photography

7 things I can’t do:

Spell

Learn languages well

Remember things (yes, just in general)

Budget money (this is a very bad thing!)

Smalltalk

Cook (well I sometimes can if I put some effort into it)

Restrain my sarcasm…

7 things that attract me to blogging:

I hate writing (with those things that have carbon in them), so this helps me get my thoughts down.

It is a great medium for dialogue, discussion, debate, and even arguments.

Fun and interesting way to keep in touch with people.

I find it very interesting to “talk” with people from all over the world with various backgrounds.

I have strong beliefs, but it is often difficult for me to put all those related thoughts together instantly (as needed with talking to a real person).

A certain degree of anonymity.

I must steal Laura’s last thing: “Because everyone is entitled to my opinion!”

7 things I say most often:

That’s gonna leave a mark.

You’re the one…

Mmmmm bacon.

What’s wrong with you?

What?

That doesn’t make any sense.

You have got to be kidding me.

7 books I love:

The Bible - Various Authors, H. Spirit

Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card

Lord of the Rings (including The Hobbit and Silmarillion) - J.R.R. Tolkien

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction - Eugene Peterson

Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis

The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is - N.T. Wright

7 movies I watch over and over:

Tommy Boy

Lord of the Rings

Aliens

Star Wars (Original Trilogy)

Fight Club

Galaxy Quest

The Hunt For Red October

This was really difficult as there are a lot of movies that I love and watch over and over…

Thanks for the tag Laura!

-Matt Jones

It has been a while since I have done a Space Saturday so I wanted to get one up, but it is also Christmas Eve so I am going to keep it light. So light in fact, that I am going to steal Tom’s Astronomy Blog‘s post for today (well, it also happens to be a good one as well): The Christmas Tree Cluster.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P.S. Teixeira (Center for Astrophysics)

Aside from being a spectacular image there are some interesting things in it. First is what is called the Snowflake cluster. The Snowflake cluster is the grouping of small pink stars near the center of the image and gets the nickname from the regular spaced intervals along fairly linear structures, and looks a bit like a snowflake.

Thanks for allowing the thievery and keeping it short and sweet for today, of course there is much to be said about this image, but you can look into it more if you want. For more of my selections, head to my Space Saturday Archive. Merry Christmas!

Resources
Tom’s Astronomy Blog - The Christmas Tree Cluster
Spitzer Space Telescope - Stellar Snowflake Cluster
SEDS - NGC 2264: Chrismas Tree Cluster
Wikipedia - Christmas Tree Cluster

-Matt Jones

I, along with thousands of other bloggers, wish you a happy Festivus! Festivus is, of course, a holiday created by Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza in response to what he saw as too many commercial and religious aspects of Christmas:

Frank invented a holiday? He’s so prolific!

And later:

Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

Cosmo Kramer: What happened to the doll?

Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born . . . a Festivus for the rest of us!

Cosmo Kramer: That must’ve been some kind of doll.

Frank Costanza: She was.

Classic. If you need some help getting you grievences down, please use this airing of grievences worksheet. And the above feats of strength challenge card can also be used for that special someone. So, please, have a happy Festivus!!

Frank: George, Festivus is your heritage - it’s part of who you are.

George: (Sulking) That’s why I hate it.

Resources
Wikipedia - Festivus
Festivus: the Website for the Rest of Us
Buy your own Festivus pole!
Seinfeld Festivus episode - “The Strike”
Festivus Info Center

And for some holiday stress relief, you should also head over to the Flying Gonzo game (via Kristin Hoppe).

-Matt Jones

Last night I finished the fourth in the Chronicles of Narnia series: Prince Caspian (see the bottom of this post for links to my blog posts on the other books in the series).

The story takes place some hundreds (even thousands) of years after LWW, at least in Narnia. The Pevensies have aged a year when they are pulled back to Narnia with the call of Susan’s horn to help out Prince Caspian regain control of the land for Old Narnia and cast out the wicked Telmarines who (centuries ago) had gone to war and kicked out those of Old Narnia. The two Kings and two Queens of Old come with the aid of Aslan and wake up many creatures that had been sleeping for ages to win the battle at take back Narnia for those who would rule justly.

I enjoyed the scene before Aslan returns:

Lucy woke out of the deepest sleep you can imagine, with the feeling that the voice she liked best in the world had be calling her name.

Wouldn’t that be a lovely way to wake?

I love the character Reepicheep because (I think like Gimli from LOTR) he thinks he is much larger than he actually is (being a mouse and all). When his tail is cut off in battle his followers offer to do the same to show their love of their commander, Aslan decides to step in:

“Ah!” roared Aslan. “You have conquered me. You have great hearts. Not for the sake of your dignity, Reepicheep, but for the love that is between you and your people, and still more for the kindness your people showed me long ago when you ate away the cords that bound me on the Stone Table, you shall have your tail again.”

After it is affirmed that he is from the same line as the wicked Telmarines, King Caspian talks with Aslan:

“I was wishing that I came of a more honorable lineage.”

“You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”

More profound words from Jack!

Next up will be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I think I will be taking a break from Narnia to read the second of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series: The Drawing of the Three. Almost Christmas! Whoo hoo!

-Matt Jones

My blog posts on The Chronicles of Narnia series:

The Magician’s Nephew

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

I graduated from Gig Harbor High School in 1998. Since then I have kept in contact with some friends from the gool ol’ days (some more than others). Well this past Monday night I hooked up with a few of those folks. It was really nice to reconnect. You never really know how things like this will turn out, but I really did enjoy myself and it was good to see them, it is too bad more of the old timers couldn’t make it. Maybe another time. I hope to get together again soon!

(CW from bottom left, click for larger image) Lisa, Jen, me, Jill, and Kim

I have a bunch of pictures from back then in my High School Photo Album if you want to see what life used to be like.

-Matt Jones

After picking up The Chronicles of Narnia series again over the summer, yesterday I finally read The Horse and His Boy, the third in the lovely series. (See the bottom of this post for links to my blog posts on all the books of the series.)

The story centers on Shasta (who is actually Prince Cor of Archenland) and the (Talking) Horse Bree who was kidnapped from Narnia and their journey across the Calormen desert to castle Anvard. This all takes place in the golden age of Narnia during the rule of the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve. This is a wonderful story of adventure, growth, and trust. Of course, Aslan brings everything together as someone who is soverign and in control, sometimes when the characters know it and at other times they have no idea.

At one scene Bree was denying the possibility of Aslan’s physical nature as Lion when Aslan then appeared before him:

“Aslan,” said Bree in a shaken voice, “I’m afraid I must be rather a fool.”

[Aslan responds,] “Happy the Horse who knows that while he is still young. Or the Human either.”

Humm, pretty profound I think.

Great book and wonderful addition to Narnia! Now it’s time for Prince Caspian. Go read up.

-Matt Jones

My blog posts on The Chronicles of Narnia series:

The Magician’s Nephew

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Horse and His Boy

Prince Caspian

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Silver Chair

The Last Battle

After our snowshoeing trip we headed to Leann’s house for an “Ugly Sweater Christmas Party” that she and her roomies were putting on. It was quite the festive event! There were lots of tasty treats to eat and get me fat, ummm… I wore a lovely Snoopy shirt (which was not nearly as ugly as some of the other sweaters). I think Leann and Hilary were right up there with the “festive spirit” and could be easily mistaken for teachers (I think I am going to have to get some more festive attire before I start teaching). PLEASE NOTE: If you enjoy wearing these type of festive sweaters, fear not, this was all in good fun. Now, enjoy the festivities! (Click for larger image and the gallery)

-Matt Jones

The 101st Christian Carnival is up at Bible Archive. I have contributed by look at Gordon Fee and the Holy Spirit. Head over and see all the weekly posts from around Christian blogosphere at Christian Carnival: The Christmas Edition 2005. Also, to catch up on previous posts, see my Christian Carnival Archive.

-Matt Jones