Category: Life Page 1 of 6

The church I pastor is located just two miles from a seminary that trains pastors for many denominations, including my own. One of the professors there is a friend who was a classmate of mine when we ourselves were in seminary several centuries ago. Not too long ago he posted something on Twitter that I thought would be worth discussing and which I saw as a good excuse to meet him for breakfast. The Professor suggested we meet on Thursday, January 22.What follows is what happens when the pastor tries to make a date to meet the professor.

The Professor suggested we meet on Thursday, January 22, to which I replied:

That Thursday is just about the only morning I CAN’T do breakfast. Normally, any morning T-F works great. How about another suggestion? My only conflicts would be 2/4 and 2/5.

So, the Professor shot back this counter-offer:

Monday, 1/26?

Which puzzled me and launched me into some exegetical fantasy at his expense:

Your exegesis of my email is lacking at ONE crucial point, Professor. Before I give you a low grade, I’ll give you a chance for a do-over.

Here was the crucial sentence:

“Normally, any morning T-F works great.”

Some commentators suggest that this was the work of a later redactor, but I think a case could be made that it was indeed a part of Randy’s original epistle. Some have suggested that the technical term T-F is a reference to a time period beginning ‘Today’ and extending to ‘Forever’ but most lexicons agree that a more probable understanding is a time period occurring repetitively beginning with ‘Tuesday’ and terminating on ‘Friday’. Given the former interpretation, Monday, 1/26 would in fact be acceptable. But if the standard lexical data is correct, then a suggestion of Monday, 1/26 falls outside the given parameters.

So, please redo the assignment and submit it by noon today for no loss of grade.

The Professor, getting into the spirit of the thing, parried my challenge with this:

So you think you divine my intentions? There is a conditional construct well-known to students of George W. Knight termed “contrary to fact.” An example would be an offer for an engagement on a day when the offeree is not available, such as “I know you can’t do it then (implied), but how about Monday?”

But granting the perspicuity of the original author, How about 2/27? Is 7:30 okay? 7:00 is fine, too. We could meet near or in the direction of campus.

In reality, I judged this to be an oddly distant date, but I put it in my calendar nonetheless:

The Tuskawilla Panera is fine. I think we met there before. And either time is okay. On a Friday, the 730 is slightly better for me.

There we were set. I thought. The Professor confirmed thus:

Let’s do 7:30 at Tuskawilla Panera on Tuesday, 1/27.

Puzzled, I responded:

You ARE making exegesis tough. Now we need to bring textual criticism into play, and I’m not very good at that. The earlier text, which should have the preference, says 2/27.

“But granting the perspicuity of the original author, How about 2/27?”

However, the later manuscript adds detail, Tuesday, and is more likely since the original proposed a date that was so far out.

“Let’s do 7:30 at Tuskawilla Panera on Tuesday, 1/27.”

Now, I judge the later manuscript in this case to be the more accurate, harking back more closely to the original intent of the author. That being the case, the Mitchell Hammock Panera would, in fact, be more convenient for me. And this being a Tuesday and not a Friday, the time does not matter. We’ll stick with 730 unless you prefer the earlier time.

Replied the Professor, on Tuesday, January 20, mind you:

Oh the glories of multitasking. Yes, I intended March 27…just kidding. I intended Jan 27. If that works, please absolve me and I”ll see you a week from tomorrow.

Which required this from me:

So, though a week from tomorrow will be Wednesday the 28th, nevertheless, I’ll stick with the weight of the given manuscripts and be at Panera on Mitchell Hammock at 730 on Tuesday, January 27th. Here I stand; I can do no other.

Which left us one exasperated Professor:

God help us all. Can’t believe it’s Tuesday already.

For all I know, I’ll be having breakfast alone tomorrow!

Monday is garbage pick-up day in our neighborhood. Thus, my early morning run allowed me to engage in a crude form of curbside archeology. You can learn a great deal from what people throw away. At least you can imagine you can.

There are whole stories of lives being lived behind the walls of our homes contained in the garbage by the curb. Sometimes this may be the only insight we have.

Your interpretations may differ from mine. If so, I’d love to hear!

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“Hey, kids, I’ve ordered some pizza. We’re going to decorate the new tree tonight.”

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“Oh my God! It’s Monday already?”

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“Where are we going to put the tree?? Some of this stuff has to go!”

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“No, really, Dear. If you let me open it NOW I can use it to make some gifts for the kids.”

“Okay, then. But I get to open the coffee maker, too. Deal?”

“Deal.”

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“I recycle. A lot.”

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“I thought you said the gate was unlocked!”

“I thought it was! But you weren’t supposed to hit it at full speed!”

(Sorry for the blur in this one. It was near the end of my run; hands were not stable.”

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It’s a wonderful life. Somber, and at times dull, but orderly. It must be orderly.

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Speaking of my Monday ‘office‘, my trips there have been funded recently by the kindness of a special and anonymous gift (pictured at right). A month or two ago, I found in my mailbox an envelope marked ‘Randy’ enclosing a Starbucks’ gift card. It is difficult to know how to say ‘thank you’ for an anonymous gift, but I’ll take the chance that the giver is a reader of this blog and here express my gratitude. It has been a well appreciated gesture. So, thanks!

One of the things that our 11-year old son likes to do when we have guests over is to survey them to see who does and who does not believe that life exists on other planets. This has been a fascination of his for many months, if not years, and to his credit I think he has persuaded a few to change their answers.

A week and a half ago he and I were talking about the possibility of alien life and I wished that he could ask his questions of someone who really knew what he was talking about.

At the NASA Grail Tweetup I attended a few weeks ago (which I have yet to report on) I met Dr. Jim Adams, NASA’s Deputy Director of Planetary Science. Though he is a busy man with many responsibilities, I sensed that he would be sympathetic to my desire. He was, and passed my request immediately on to Dr. Mary Voytek, NASA’s Senior Scientist for Astrobiology, from whom I heard within the hour.

I should pause and admit that until my son developed his interest, I had no idea that there were such things as astrobiologists. This is a discipline that studies all facets of the possibility of life in extraterrestrial environments. (For more information, you can go here.)

Dr. Voytek contacted one of NASA’s contracted astrobiologists, a researcher associated with the University of Florida and the Kennedy Space Center, Dr. Andrew Schuerger. By Friday I had an invitation from Dr. Schuerger to meet with my son at a local Beef-O-Brady’s. Dr. Schuerger, it turns out, lives but 9 miles from us.

I know some of you who read this don’t believe in God and I know that you will therefore write this off as coincidence. I can’t do that. God was giving a gift to my son, and through this, to me.

So, last night, had you chanced upon the Oviedo Beef-O-Brady’s, you would have seen at some tables families eating and talking about the events of the day, at other tables groups of manly men recovering from their frustrations at work, and all around every sports channel on the planet displaying the games people play. In the middle of it all was an experienced scientist whose research involves testing microbes for survivability in the harsh Marian environment handling and guiding the questions of a fascinated and captivated 11-year old boy. It was as priceless as it was surreal. (And humbling, I might add. They were discussing things clear to my son but opaque to me.)

There is no way to adequately express my appreciation to these men and women, to those who have loved my son, even at a distance. And I have no way to thank Dr. Schuerger for his gentle and enthusiastic way with him.

I have no way of knowing how this will in the future impact my son. But of the present it has thrilled him, and me, beyond measure. Thank you, all.

I had intended to post a much longer piece in anticipation of my next two days, but time has escaped me. So, bullet points will suffice:

> I was selected from a pool of Twitter users (I’m @rg7878, if interested) to participate in a NASA “Tweetup”.

> Thus, tomorrow I will join 150 others in a tour of the Cape Canaveral launch facility and a series of lectures on space exploration and the particular mission set to launch on Thursday.

> On Thursday, then, I return for an up close (I hope!) view of the launch of the Delta II rocket carrying the GRAIL moon orbiters to the moon.

> I’m supposed to tweet about it – I’ll see how that goes. But if I get the chance I’ll return here to report on the experience.

Details can be found at these links:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/newsdisplay.cfm?Subsite_News_ID=29216&SiteID=2

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/grail/home.cfm