Yesterday eve was the dialogue. As part of their 'Diversity Week' the University of Prince Edward Island encourages people of different faith traditions the opportunity to come together, in a spirit of peace, goodwill, and humility, to explore in a little more depth, what each tradition believes regarding a particular subject. This year the subject was 'Peace', based upon the scriptures of the Bible and the Quran. It was a good time, and apart from one young Muslim getting a bit carried away, everything was handled very respectfully. It was an honor to take part and hope to have the opportunity to be apart of more events like this in the future.

This Tuesday eve at the UPEI Chaplaincy Centre, there will be a Muslim/Christian dialogue on 'Peace', and what the scriptures of each religious tradition teach on the subject. I was recommended by another student and will be on the Christian panel. This dialogue is part of UPEI's 'Diversity Week'. 
I think Christians need to be a bit more 'on-board' with this type of thing. To work with someone, and come along side them does not mean abandoning your own dogma's, nor even compromising them. It simply means loving people and serving them; which is something Christians should excel at even more than any other group.

Jesus said the entire Law was contained in two rules:
1) Love God.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

We may not see a lot of room to compromise core Christian beliefs in these two rules, but we also should not see a license for intolerance, hate, ridicule, prejudice, slander, or belittlement contained in these rules either.
Even if my Christian faith does not permit me to worship the gods others worship, it still mandates a call to serve and love them, regardless of the final outcome. The call of the Christian is to love, and a fruit of love is peace. And even if someone is unwilling to accept the Christ we extend, they should have the same opportunity to receive the love and peace we extend as well.

If you are near UPEI on Tuesday eve, you should come check it out. It is free of charge and open to the public. -->Here<--'s a map to help you find it. Hope to see you there.

It has been an interesting (to say the least) few months. Starting with Charlie, all the way back in October, we have been plagued by random illness associated with our critters. After Charlie, the issue with Sonnen's tail started. Then Milo & Casper started scratching a little too much for our liking. I have been diagnosed with ringworm; where it came from, who knows? All our critters are now on meds.
Milo & Casper are on mite and ringworm meds.
Ping Pong is on mite and ringworm meds.
Sonnen is on mite, ringworm, antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory, and iodine drops.
Crazy.
If we want to see Sonnen completely recover from her wound then there must be sacrifice on our part. We are staying up all night with her until her stub heals so that she doesn't pick at it and continually open it up again and again. What we failed to accomplish with Charlie, we seem to be succeeding with Sonnen.
We have spent hundreds and hundreds of $$$ trying to restore our little ones to health. Seriously, well over $500 so far. We have lost weeks of sleep. I submitted a poorly written major term paper last semester which surely affected my final grade because I was so tired taking care of Charlie.
But it has been worth it.

These little creatures are so vulnerable, depending on us for almost every aspect of their happiness, health, and quality of life; yet they are so mistreated and abused. When inconvenience presents itself on their behalf, we often deem their life so worthless that we are not prepared to spend much 9if any) time or $$$ on their well-being or importance.
It is not so far-fetched to call beings such as these 'the least of these'.
Our compassion should not be limited within our own species. All of creation belongs to God, was created by Him, and exists for Him. When we abuse that creation we put ourselves in a very unfortunate position. Think of how you feel when someone abuses something of your's that you care for deeply.
We desire our critters to be well, and are committed to seeing that through, no matter how much time or money that costs us. Many may not understand, but that is not our issue, those living beings entrusted to our care are our issue.

For my Myths of Hate and Evil class, we are reading C.S. Lewis' classic The Screwtape Letters. I read this one years ago, shortly after I became a Christian, and remembered thinking it was 'just ok' as the wit of Lewis far exceeded my own and I found it hard to understand. Even though I had had a great deal of experience with the occult I still did not understand the reference point in which he wrote.

If you are ignorant to the fact, the book is about an older demon (Screwtape) writing letters to a novice (Wormwood) as how to direct a young man away from God and towards the Devil and eternal damnation.

Having just begun it again this morning, I was on Screwtape's 2nd letter to Wormwood when I read "All you then have to do is to keep out of his mind the question 'If I, being what I am, can consider that I am in some sense a Christian, why should the different vices of those people in the next pew prove that their religion is mere hypocrisy and convention?'"

As a Christian I am struck by the level of humility needed to forsake a path we had carved for years and years on our own and submit ourselves to a God who may possibly have a whole different path we had never even considered, much less wanted, in times past. The humility needed to admit out inadequacy in all matters of this life is as remarkable as it is short-lived, in many cases.

Our path from self-reliance enters into a dramatic realization that we are indeed sinners walking a path abhorred by a creator God which will end in our ultimate destruction. Humility is a key to forsaking this self-righteous path and turning (repenting) of this and entering into a life that seems, for the moment, so foreign but so Divine. Quickly though, we are then taught that we are now the 'righteousness of Christ', 'as He is, so are we in this world', greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world', we are 'the apple of His eye', and so on and so on and so on. Unbeknownst to us, our foundational humility is coated with layers of pride which gives lip-service to a memory of our past but distances ourselves from a practical methodology of it.

Suddenly, instead of being able to relate to other people in this world who hold different opinions or views, we become their judge and instructor, conveying a prideful attitude of 'you need what I have' rather than a humble 'I am only a Christian because I have acknowledged my inadequacies which still keep me turning (repenting) to my Savior everyday'.

The Church has taken the 10 Commandments (or the Law, to be a bit more exact) and used them/it as a standard by which to attain, suggesting 'we' do it and 'they' need to do it. We have suggested that we are the examples by which to emulate. That isn't a problem, if we ourselves have actually lived the morally exemplifiable life. Now we have positioned ourselves into a place where we are telling the world to do one thing while we ourselves are not doing that exact same thing. And this is where the commonly asserted argument of 'Christian hypocrisy' is brought into account. It is also a great reason why a multitude of human beings remain 'unbelieving' in our society.

I think a much more humble, wise, holistic, compassionate, empathetic, friendly, Christlike manner of communicating the Gospel could be to exemplify a lifestyle of repentance, not throwing off the humility that was needed to accept the Gospel, in our serving the rest of the world. We should get off the throne we have erected and cast off our crowns at the feet of Jesus, recognizing that if theology is all we have, that we are deficient in matters of service, ethics, and most things practical that the world is actually in need of. I am a huge proponent of orthodoxy (right belief), as are many others in the Church, but I am also a huge proponent of orthopraxy (right practice), which sadly does not seem to have as many champions in the environment I inhabit.

The goal of the Church in our present age, society, and culture is how can we contextualize the Gospel with compromising it. We first need to stop worrying about converting people and start loving and serving them for no other reason than the love of Christ compels us to. Lets set aside out ulterior objectives and let the Holy Spirit do His work in others by letting Him do His work in us. All the glory is His alone anyways. Lets cloak ourselves in humility once again, as we seek the salvation we have begun to take for granted.

A day or two after we had to put Charlie down :( we noticed that Sonnen's little tail looked quite raw. Thinking she just got it caught in something we decided to monitor it and see what happened. It got consistently worse the next few days but wasn't out of control, so we called the AVC and got advice and continued monitoring her. The rawness evolved into a cut on the underside of her tail which she seemed happy to ignore when she was out with us, so we weren't ecstatically concerned.
When she got up for the night on Wednesday (Jan 4) though things had turned ugly. There was blood covering a substantial part of her backside and there appeared to be a large chunk completely missing from her tail! Dr. Nielsen was on nights at the AVC and told us to come right in. Adriana (we are just about on a first name basis with our veterinarian, and know far too much about her personal life than we should now!) examined her and cleaned her up. She put Sonnen on 2 oral meds; one an anti-inflammatory, and an antibiotic. Then sent us home.
We went to bed (by now it was after 2 am) and got up around 7:30. Sonnen was once again covered in blood, and had been digging at her wound. We called the AVC but there was really nothing they could do except tell us that the meds needed a couple of days to start performing; so, that means we are on the clock, 24 hrs, making sure she doesn't hinder the healing of her wound.
Sound familiar?
She has had a good day though. We have kept her from messing around with her wound and it is looking cleaner and less inflamed than it has in days! We are praying for a speedy recovery, because with a new semester having just begun, reading assignments are starting to pile up already and I've a book review due in a few short weeks. It is unfair to UPEI to have to choose where my priorities lie.
So, we are back on the night shifts until we get out little one back to the place of health that God intends.

PEIVMA sponsorship of an eagle
Medical and rehabilitation costs for the care of these animals are very expensive. In recognition of the 2011 Animal Health Week theme “Protecting the Health of all Species,” the PEI Veterinary Medical Association generously 
sponsored the care of an eagle (described below) at the AVC this summer. 
A bald eagle was brought to the AVC  Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) in 
early August by a PEI fisheries and wildlife officer who reported it had been unable to fly for several days. Upon arrival, the eagle was in poor body condition and weak, with a small wound on one wing, and, indeed, could not fly. Blood work showed a moderate regenerative anemia and ruled out capture 
myopathy or lead toxicosis. The eagle received intensive supportive care (IV fluids, analgesic drugs, etc.). Radiographs performed under general anesthesia showed no abnormalities. The eagle started to eat rapidly and regained 
some strength and energy over the first days of hospitalization but required additional time to recover fully. It is impossible to know what happened—the eagle may have been affected by a bad rain storm or had a traumatic incident that kept it from flying and therefore from eating. The eagle was successfully released in Stanhope, PEI, on August 24, 2011.

There you have it. Tis quite a spike. It is also interesting when you look at our monthly traffic.

In the blue are visits to our site in general. In yellow are returning visits by those who had been to our site before. Our worst months were February, July, and January. I've no idea why? Our most trafficked months were December, April, and October. October shattered the other months by far, mostly because of the tragic and untimely death of Volonte Luxama, and the post I did in his honor, which is my most trafficked post of all time, by far.
It is also touching that December had the most 'returning visits' as people returned again and again to see the progress Charlie (our mouse) was making during his attempted recovery from severe ear infections. Unfortunately he did not make it :(
It is tragic that the most popular events on our website involved the death of loved ones, but it is also proof that people congregate in times of tragedy and bond with each other in different forms.
Thanks to everyone who checked out our site in 2011, may we have an amazing, challenging and growth-filled 2012.

We met Ping Pong shortly after we adopted our little mouse Charlie, he was the next small animal to arrive at the PEI Humane Society. When we volunteered we never saw him much cause he was always sleepin, or just shy. When we had to put Charlie down we remembered Ping Pong and felt sad for him; no one had adopted him in the months that he had been up for adoption. We filled out the application and were immediately approved to be his parents! We picked him up this afternoon, and became the sixth member of our household, joining us and Sonnen our hamster (named after our favorite UFC fighter Chael Sonnen!), and Milo & Casper our rats.
Ping Pong is a busy little guy, always rushing around doing something. We are just barely getting to know him but he is so different than our hamster is, or our mouse was. Neither of us have ANY experience with gerbils, so it should be a fun experience. Ping Pong is between a year and 2 old, and possibly could live up near 5 years! So we may get to know this little guy quite well before we graduate with our degrees.
Welcome Ping Pong; hope you enjoy your stay!

A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches From Chechnya
Anna Politkovskaya/07

A heartbreakingly powerful account of civilians caught in the war between Russia and Chechnya. Politkovskaya's fearless reporting recounts tales that make even the most hardened heart cringe in sympathy. I have been (or at the least, near) the areas Politkovskaya writes about in this book and have met the people she met and wrote about; they have been some of the most inspiring I have ever known. Unless you have a vested interest in Russian politics or history, or are a fan of Anna's work, this will probably not be a book you will pick up, but for those who do, it would take much resistance to not come away changed.
This book seems all the more powerful given the fact that Politkovskaya was murdered in 2006. Some say the government had had enough of her. She definitely did not endear herself to the Kremlin.

Early Christianity
Roland Bainton/84

It's under 200 pages, and limits itself to the first 500 years or so of the Church, but this book is one of the most interesting I have yet read. I literally couldn't put it down. I enjoy Bainton's writing, and was definitely not disappointed with this. I found it in a Salvation Army bookstore and got it for $0.25 or something; what a steal. I can't wait for it to come out as Kindle format so I can take it everywhere, forever!!

The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales
Peter Rollins/09

I am generally not a fan of Rollins. He seems to be one of those with a message characterized by 'shock', and "OMG, did he just say that?!", to such an extent that it seems he does it just for effect. The man is brilliant though and even though I went into this book heavily biased against him I loved almost every page of it. Not that I agree with Rollins theologically, but in regards to orthopraxy (right living) the stories contained in this book were among the most convicting I have ever been faced with. Putting aside the "all deed, no creed" mentality that is often suggested by many in the Emergent camp, this book is a treasure that must be mined continually until we throw our religious mindsets off, and follow Jesus as practically as He intended.

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived 
Rob Bell/11

This attempt by Bell is a great reason why everyone aspiring to publish a book should have multiple people help with editing! Bell's excursion into heterodoxy wouldn't have been so alarming had he admitted it was just that, instead of claiming orthodoxy. Attempting to put the doctrine of 'hell' out for discussion, I see few people who are discussing the subject not much more than 9 months after the book was released. All it did was generate a bit of short-term controversy and make Bell a bunch of $$$. IMO this book was embarrassing, and should only be read by those people (like myself) who cannot resist slowing down at the scene of an accident to see what kind of damage has happened. I hope Bell rebounds from this kind of notoriety, because his spoken words are actually very good and worthy of serious consideration.

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality 
Don Miller/03

I used to really enjoy reading Don Miller's blog, but that was before I read Blue Like Jazz, now I can't take him seriously. I thought this book was like eating marshmallows, or Rice Crispies, or anything else that had no substance. I kept wondering why this book is one of the most popular Christian titles in recent years? Why did I pay $$ for it? Who do I contact for a refund?
To say that this is a popular book would be an understatement :s
I finished this book back in August and I am still sitting, trying to figure out if was all a clever marketing ploy designed to make some cash for him. Besides a few impressive philosophical one liners, I was shocked at the immaturity of someone considered a leader in the Emergent movement. Miller is smart, of that I've not much doubt, therefore, it seemed like he was cleverly (not in a good way) writing with a clear demographic in mind. Lets just say I thought Love Wins had some solid theology compared to this one :s

Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics 
Thomas Aquinas

Maybe a classic, but too repetitious for my liking. There are aspects of Aristotle I enjoy, and there are aspects of Aquinas I enjoy, but this is not one of them. I was forced to read this as part of a university course called Thomas Aquinas and the Thomastic Tradition. I struggled chapter after chapter to stay awake long enough to actually complete my readings. I am thankful we were not tested formally on this work, as instead, we had to write a major paper on any aspect of Aquinas' theology.