You go in to get a hair cut and after you try to describe what you want, they look at you blankly. You know…you just KNOW…they want to know what number do you use? I hate hearing that question when I get my hair cut. If that was all I needed to know, I could flowbee my hair and be fine. Today, I came across this article on picking a barber. Here’s what I read part way down the page:
if the first question the barber asks you is, “What number do you want on the sides?” run out of the shop immediately.
That got an arm pump YES from me. I really dislike that question and wish I could find a barber like the one who cut my hair in Hermann MO.
While I was in Jordan, I took a trip to the Dead Sea and Mt. Nebo. Here are some pictures from Mt Neebo:
For those who don’t know, Mt. Nebo is “supposedly” where Moses was able to view the Promised Land when God told him he wasn’t going to enter because he had sinned. I don’t know if that is true or not; however, you do have a good view of Israel.
During Ramadan, it is illegal to eat or drink in public (even for westerners and non-muslims). Not much happens during the day; however, the city comes alive after dark (and you can eat and drink). A friend and I went to the Citadel Nights festival that is held at the Amman citadel.
It was 5 JD to get in (about $8 or so). For that, we got to see the citadel, listen to music, relax, and experience the atmosphere. Oh, by the way everyone from the US, your tax money helped pay for this….USAID logos were all over the place. Here’s some pictures:
The view from the citadel
Loads of people were launching these japanese lanterns
When I got to Jordan, I wanted to make ice. The place I was staying had a fridge/freezer but made weeny ice cubes. So, I switched to using a muffin tin (and they didn’t last long in the heat). But, when I froze the first ones, I had an “ice spike” on one of the cubes. Here’s a picture. if you would like to read more about ice spikes, start with the Wikipedia article.
Well, I just got back from a trip to Jordan. This is just one of several posts I’ll make over the next several days talking about my trip.
The first thing I want to talk about is all the American “stuff” that was there. For starters, they had Chili’s, Fudruckers, Starbucks, and more:
In addition, they had a huge shopping centre with Hardee’s (didn’t eat there), a fish and chip place, and loads of other stuff. It was Ramadan while I was there, so restaurants and the like didn’t open till about 7pm and stayed open late. This mall was virtually empty at 7pm but was packed by 11!
This man–Adoniram Judson–and his wife became the first Protestant missionaries sent from North America. They went to Burma to share the good news of the Gospel with the heathen there (yes, I know I said heathen). I find their story interesting not so much because they went, but because of what happened on the voyage.
They left the US as Congregationalists; however, while on the boat, Adoniram studied the Bible and came to see that Biblical Baptism was something that happened post-salvation (as opposed to infant baptism). This led him to a point where he had to resign as a missionary for the Congregationalists. However, while in India, he wrote to baptists in the US offering to serve as their missionary. They offered and, when they were driven out of India by the East India Company, they went to Burma.
This year is the 200th anniversary of the departure of the first missionaries sent from American churches to foreign lands . Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice were commissioned by Congregational churches in 1811 and set sail for India in February 1812. Judson had married Ann Hasseltine just two weeks earlier. Her parents would never see their daughter again, nor the grandchildren that Ann would bear, but they had placed her into the Lord’s hands, come what may. On the way to India, the young couple came to the conviction through Bible study that baptism is for believers only, rather than infants, and by immersion rather than sprinkling or pouring.
When they arrived in Serampore, India, they were immersed on their profession of faith in Christ by William Ward, a co-worker with William Carey. Luther Rice came to the same conclusion independently of the Judsons. He returned to the States and traveled to Baptist churches to challenge them for world missions. In response, Baptist churches in America formed a missionary society of their own. Judson’s 67- year-old father resigned his pastorate in a Congregational church and was baptized scripturally, together with his wife and daughter (Adoniram’s sister), Abigail.
The Judsons settled in Burma, a Buddhist stronghold, in July 1813, and it was not until six difficult years later that they had their first convert. Six years after that Judson’s fledgling church still had only 18 members. Their second child, a son, died at age eight months. Judson was imprisoned for nearly two years under terrible conditions–half-starved, fettered in iron, sometimes tied up and suspended by his mangled feet. Soon after he was released, Ann died, followed by their third child, Maria. This nearly crushed Judson, but his faith in God endured and the gospel work began to prosper. When Judson died in 1850, there were 63 Baptist churches in Burma with 7,000 baptized believers.
I know not everyone who reads my blog would agree with me; however, I’m thankful that someone in the past cared enough about my ancestors to share the forgotten truth with them (forgotten in the sense that a sinful man shuns the things of God to believe the lie that there is no God). At some point in the past, someone made a trip like this to share with my ancestors the truth. In turn, I was able to hear the truth from my parents. If it weren’t for men like Adoniram–men who answered the call of God–untold numbers would never get an opportunity to hear the truth, die in their sins, and go to Hell.
Oh, the image is in the public domain and from the wikipedia article too.
I had read that the Curiosity Rover was due to land sometime, but wasn’t sure when. This morning, after having my quiet time, I turned on Sky News to watch the news. I ended up tuning in 30 sec before the rover landed. So, I stumbled onto seeing the rover land. It was neat to see.
I heard about this on the news this morning. Sky even showed some video. From what I saw, the match was really really bad (and it looked like they were trying to be the worst). Why? To mess with the rankings in the final.
My question…does it happen in other events? Is it as obvious in other events? What about the swimmer who only needs to finish in the top 5 to move on in one event but they have another event in short order? How could you tell if they only put out enough effort to be 3rd? Or what about the weightlifter who could lift more but doesn’t because they don’t want to get hurt?
Sure, it is probably against the spirit of the olympics, but wouldn’t a world class athlete look at all possibilities?
Now, I don’t really have an opinion on this. The match would have been terribly boring to watch, sure. I’m sure it went against the spirit of the olympics of giving it you all. I just wanted to write about something and this seemed interesting enough to spark a conversation.
[Update 2012-08-01 11:56:20] It turns out that the organizers changed how the matches were played this year. Instead of a single-elimination system, it was moved to this group playoff. See this article in the telegraph.
