One Monk's Journey Through Faith

I'm adding a few blogs I've followed to the roll.

Vine and Fig by Jim Swindle. This guy is an excellent poet (didn't you know it?!). Jim and I follow each other off and on. Definitely check out his work, and buy his book!

I've followed T.C. Robinson's New Leaven for a while now, and it's about time to give him credit by making an official place for him in the blog roll. Hurray.

Today I discovered Romanos Gorny (HT to Jim Swindle), a linguist of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His blogs include Cost of Discipleship and Η Καινή Διαθήκη. The first one is a blog of theological reflection whereas the second one has recordings of some of the NT in Greek. I've personally recorded Philippians and Philemon, but my microphone is terrible. Also my pronunciation. I can't help it, though. I was taught the traditional seminary pronunciation, which apparently is a far cry from the authentic way to speak Greek. My pronunciation may be wrong, but I am at least fluently wrong. And it's unlikely that I'll change. After memorizing Philippians, it would be confusing for my muscle memory if I started pronouncing it differently. Anyway, if you're a student of biblical Greek, I suggest at that second one.

Coming Soon: Philippians Translation with Commentary v0.6

Yes, I've picked up the amazing hobby of making wooden spoons. Here's my first eight:

The first one turned out usable, luckily.

Number two? Not so much. But it still works for stirring or scooping. I don't know what I was going for with the handle there.
An adorable baby spoon was my third project.

I tried to make another one, but I cut through the bowl. "Perfection is when there's nothing to take away, but disaster is a hole in your bowl." Ain't THAT the truth?

A sugar spoon for a young lady in Oklahoma City. I am most certainly not putting my thumb in the way to conspicuously cover up her engraved initials.
 A sugar spoon for my mom. I most definitely am not putting my thumb in the way to conspicuously make the previous spoon look less conspicuous.
Now things start looking *really* good. This one's a stirring spoon for a young lady in Portland, whom I miss oh so much. Since I didn't mess up the engraving that I didn't make on the spoon two spoons ago, this spoon has no engraving.
An attempt to replicate the one for Miceala. This one's quite good, too.
In comparison, you can see that Miceala's is more round, but the second one has prettier stripes. I can't control the stripe factor. The reason these turned out so well is because stirring spoons require only a shallow bowl. Making an eating spoon with a smooth bowl is something I don't have the tools for. All of these are made from basswood and treated with four coats of mineral oil so that they're food safe. I'm out of wood, but I've ordered more. I guess I'll spend the next two weeks doing more reading/writing!

See The Washington Times on this issue. It's good to hear someone push for conversion to Christianity now and then.