Bryce Comes to Town

Uncle Bryce came to town yesterday, and Hannah LOVED him. She woke up this morning and said, "see bryce," and we said "do you love bryce," and hannah said, "yeah."

It was so good catching up and laughing with Bryce. It made us miss our friends in Williamsburg, and we just had a lot fun together.

This Makes Me Laugh

We have been watching the office recently, and it is my new favorite show. This is my favorite scene. I

You are a Theologian?

Right now, I am taking a two-week intensive class on Systematic Theology 3: Ecclesiology and Eschatology.

Even the name of the class sounds terrible. What does that even mean anyway?

The traditional discipline of systematic theology has been ripped on for trying to put God in a box, for creating a system through which we can understand God, ourselves, and the world in nice, neat systems.

We intuitvely know this is not possible and is a waste of time if the God of the Bible is living and active. How could we ever put the God who created heaven and earth in a box?

So, why take this class? Why waste my time?

The purpose of the class is not to box up God, but to understand how the church has understood huge questions about what it means to be the church (ecclesiology), how God is active in the world and what is the destiny of humanity and the cosmos (eschatology). Basically, I will be studying how the church has understood the complex issues that surround these questions from the beginning of the christian movement to present in two weeks. Actually pretty interesting.

Systematic theology can be helpful because each of us is a theologian. We answer these questions all the time. Statements such as.....

.....I would never go to church or I am going to church this morning is a theological statement (meaning church is a place we go)

....If I could just win the lottery, my life would really be great is a theological statement. (life is better if i have more money)

.....God has really blessed you with that house. He has really rewarded me for my hard work is a theological statement. (houses are rewards)

.....God doesn't want me to go to church, but to be the church is a theological statement. (church can be an individual thing I become)

.....what really matters is that we just all get along and love each other is a theological statement.

.....If everyone just took care of their family, the world will be a better place is a theological statement...

I'm sure you could think of a lot of other ones that we hear or say on a daily basis. One tendency we all have is to fit God neatly into our precoceived ideas rather than letting Him shape our minds, hearts, values, and lives with His character and purposes.

What informs our ideas about God and our place in the world?

How can we do better theology that is more faithful to what God desires?

I think understanding the ways the church has understood these difficult issues throughout history can help us move beyond endless questions and a faith in which God baptizes our priorities into a faith that God brings us into His purposes and priorities in the world.

I am hoping to take away some tools to help ordinary theologians follow God more fully in our time and place.

I love my family

Hannah is still scared of the ocean water, but we had some amazing mornings going down and looking at the water and seals together

Got free Sea World tickets where we.....

First Paxton Family Vacation: San Diego

We had to make it down to San Diego with the short time we had remaining, so we took our first family vacation for three days, and had a great time.

We reconnected with the Kerkoffs and Hannah's friend Brighton

80's Birthday Party

We had a fun night last night celebrating our good friend Shirley's birthday.

Africa Hope Center Pics

My friend Joseph just arrived in Kenya this week to be there for the summer and sent me these pics:

Prayers for Africa Hope Center

This is an attempt to make a long story short in the midst of studying for exams. During my time at Fuller, God has burdned our hearts for orphans in Africa. We've been studying, learning, and building relationships to best understand how we can partner with churches in Africa to care for orphans in a holistic way. One of my prayers has been God would lead me to people I can trust in the church in Africa to multiply their efforts to care for kids that have no future or hope because of the devastation caused by the AIDS crisis. In Kenya alone, 1/4 of the adult population has died from AIDS and has left over 4 million orphans just in that country. The current number of 15 million orphans in Sub-Saharahan africa is expected to rise to 20 million by 2010. Can you even fathom that number of kids without home and care?

Anyway, over the last year I have built a great friendship with a pastor from Kenya who is getting his PHD at Fuller studying how the church in Kenya can best care for orphans holistically. His church began by taking in 5 orphans who lost both their parents to AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya, and now are caring for 80 kids in rented flats and church facilities. They have been raising money to buy a property that can become a holistic orphan care sanctuary for over 100 kids. The entire price of the property is just over 40,000. They need 23,000 down to buy it and they raised 15,000 on their own. I've helped them raise 6,000 more toward that effort and we are just 2,000 dollars short of being able to buy the property which is a huge need and an exciting stage to be involved in actually making a difference in bringing hope to kid's lives.

My friend, Jason, one of the pastors of the new church community we are joining with this fall, and I are going this summer, August 1-15, to build continue building a relationship with Joseph, see the situation firsthand, and see how God is continuing to lead us in future partnership.

Right now, I am trying to help him develop a web-site to give on-line and raise the remaining 2,000. I need $550 for the web-site and 2,000 to help him buy the land.

This would mean about 20 people giving 100 bucks, 200 people giving 10 bucks, or 10 people giving 200 bucks, or 20,000 people giving 10 cents. Anybody interested in helping?

The best way to give is either to write a check directly to Africa Hope Center or to Visio Dei (church in Raleigh) and designate for Africa Hope Center, and then they will write the check collectively.

The two addresses can be found on www.africahopecenter.org or www.visiodei.org

Thanks for considering making this is a reality

Peace

CP