I read online today about a guy named David Plotz who is blogging the Bible.

He describes himself as "a proud Jew, but never a terribly observant one". While attending a boring Bat Mitzvah, he flipped open the Torah at random and read Genesis 34.

It begins with the rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah by Shechem, the son of a local chief named Hamor. Shechem and Hamor visit Jacob and his brothers to resolve the mess. Hamor begs on Shechem's behalf: Shechem loves Dinah, he says, and yearns to marry her. Hamor and Shechem offer to share their land with Jacob's family and pay any bride price if only Dinah would be Shechem's wife.

Jacob's sons pretend to agree to this proposal, but they insist that Shechem and all the other men of his town get circumcised before the marriage. Shechem and his father accept the demand. They and their fellow townsmen get circumcised. Three days after the circumcision, "when they were in pain," Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi (who are Dinah's full brothers) enter the town, murder all the men, and take Dinah away. After this slaughter, Jacob's other sons plunder the town, seize the livestock and property, and take the women and children as slaves. Jacob, who hasn't said a word in the chapter till now, complains to Simeon and Levi that other neighboring tribes won't trust him anymore. "But they answered, 'Should our sister be treated like a whore?'"

"Like many lax but well-educated Jews (and Christians), I have long assumed I knew what was in the Bible—more or less. I read parts of the Torah as a child in Hebrew school, then attended a rigorous Christian high school where I had to study the Old and New Testaments. Many of the highlights stuck in my head: Adam and Eve, Cain versus Abel, Jacob versus Esau, Jonah versus whale, 40 days and nights, 10 plagues and Commandments, 12 tribes and apostles, Red Sea walked under, Galilee Sea walked on, bush into fire, rock into water, water into wine. And, of course, I absorbed other bits of Bible everywhere: from stories I heard in churches and synagogues, movies and TV shows, tidbits my parents and teachers told me. All this left me with a general sense that I knew the Good Book well enough, and that it was a font of crackling stories, Jewish heroes and moral lessons.

So, the tale of Dinah unsettled me, to say the least. If this story was strutting cheerfully through the back half of Genesis, what else had I forgotten or never learned?"

He decided to read the Bible for the first time, and blog about it as he does.

"I think I'm in the same position as many other lazy but faithful people ... I love Judaism; I love (most of) the lessons it has taught me about how to live in the world; and yet I realized I am fundamentally ignorant about its foundation, its essential document".

He encourages readers to e-mail him at plotz@slate.com to "tell me how I've screwed up".

I have been reading his interpretations, and so far, I'm finding them pretty entertaining.

Genesis 8:20
All the animals on earth except those on the ark have died. So, what's the first thing Noah does after landfall? He makes an animal sacrifice.

Genesis 9:9-17
God announces His first covenant with man, that He will never again destroy the earth with a flood. He doesn't rule out other catastrophes. (God, apparently, is the opposite of an insurance company. He offers flood protection, but no other coverage.

Genesis 18
Jews had the three wise men before Jesus! Three strangers visit Abraham, and he welcomes them hospitably. One of the strangers — who are messengers of God — announces, "I will return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." The Christ story is a clear rip-off. In the Christmas tale, it's impossible for Mary to have a child because she's a virgin, but she does, and three supernatural visitors herald the child's birth. Here it's impossible for Sarah to have a child because she's post-menopausal (as we are told very directly: "Sarah had stopped having the periods of women") — but she does, and three supernatural visitors herald it. The big difference: We Jews do not have any good songs about this incident.

I read this article in RELEVANT magazine online ...

Spider-Man is my savior. There, I said it. And that comes from more than two decades’ worth of neon-highlighted scripture skimming, from a man whose blood runs deep with parables passed down from his preacher father and preacher grandfather. From them, I came to know God early on in church, school, Bible study, choir rehearsal and Christmas plays on Sundays. But as a kid, I found religion on Saturdays off a busy street near my house in a one-room shop called Stand-Up Comics. That is where I met Peter Parker, the man of the blue and red cloth.

My first impression of Spider-Man was that—unlike Superman—he was the most self-conscious superhero I had ever seen. The comic's cover read, "The Amazing Spider-Man," but he was a regular Joe, a socially stagnant science whiz with ambitions to be bigger, faster and flashier. After a radioactive spider bit him, he gained spider-like powers (sticky hands, super-strength, a sixth sense) and had to learn to use them responsibly. But somewhere between thought comic book word bubbles about chemistry labs and secret crushes and run-ins with flaming pumpkins, I saw a story of a teenager on a path to understand and harness the power within. In much the same way, the Bible refers to Jesus growing in stature and maturity and understanding His mission was a process.

I did not see it like that in the beginning. I used to believe that if Jesus existed in a comic realm, it would be in DC Comics, Marvel's rival for decades. In DC's universe, larger-than-life heroes like Superman and Batman wore billowing capes and fought to defeat arch villains and stood for sound morals and positive messages. Yet, they seemed out of reach, untouchable, iconic figments of fantastic imaginations. Growing up, this is how I saw God, as a divine entity who swooped down when we called out for help. But with that idea, I was constantly only looking outward and upward hoping the "bird or plane" in the sky was a blessing in disguise.

Watching Superman Returns on opening day last summer, I realized how much they tried to make Superman a Christ figure—but the movie overflowed with forced religious symbolism: prayers to his existential father, a scene where bad guys beat him down similar to a scene with Jesus in Passion of the Christ and a moment after he saves the world where a suffering Superman hangs in mid-air with his arms outstretched in true crucifixion form. He looked more like some far-flung sun god than the Son of Man.

The comic universe which created him has always stood firm on the foundation of fantasy worlds and epic figures from places afar. Superman came from the distant planet Krypton, so despite awkward attempts as his alter ego, Clark Kent, he can never be human. And this difference is critical. Jesus did come from another world and was fully God, but he was also fully human, more like Parker, who was bred in a real-life city (New York) with relatable, angst-ridden problems.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created Spider-Man in the late 1950s and early 1960s as an ordinary teenager who was given special abilities. The stories showed Parker as more man than a messiah figure. He struggled with insecurity, instability and uncertainty. But this is what made Spider-Man such a superhero. He was vulnerable.

In The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture, a collection of essays edited by B.J. Oropeza, the essayist says this:

Mortals like us can identify with what is human about a savior. Jesus worked as a carpenter, grew hungry, tired, cried at the loss of loved ones, and of course, suffered and sacrificed Himself for others. It is definitely in the humanity rather than the deity of Christ that we see reflections of Spider-Man most clearly.

The opposite would be true for Superman, who personifies Christ only as godhead. Upon reading the Gnostic Gospels, I realized the flaw in my view of God as merely an external presence somewhere in the heavens. The Gnostics (named after the term "Gnosis," which is Greek for knowledge) were outsiders to mainstream Christians, who dismissed their ideals as heresy and excluded the writings from the standard versions of the Bible (they are included in the New Testament apocrypha). The Gnostic Gospels—which included documents such as the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Thomas—made Spider-Man's struggle more significant to me.

Verse 112 of the Gospel of Thomas poetically paints the picture: "Damn the flesh that depends on the soul. Damn the soul that depends on the flesh."

I see now that Spider-Man illustrates the constant struggle between spirit and flesh, the tug-of-war between light and dark forces.

That idea resonates in Spider-Man 3, which swings into theaters on May 4. Just as Parker is settling down and finding balance between his job as a superhero and his relationship with longtime love interest Mary Jane Watson, he discovers a mysterious black substance that covers his suit and conjures a never-before-seen dark side. He loses sight of the ones he loves as he gives into the aggression that the new goo brings forth. Parker must fight formidable villains such as Sandman and the New Goblin, but his ultimate battle lies within, where he must choose to overcome the temptation of his darker self and use his power for good.

In the wide world of comics, Superman will forever reign supreme as the absolute icon, the modern, mythic Man of Steel who always saves the world and never sweats out his curl. But Spider-Man inspires me more because he is one of us. He is ordinary, a human with a divine purpose: to follow the path within to a higher power.

Angry Alien has created an all bunnies parody of Spiderman 1 & 2, and Spiderbun 3 is on the way.

Watch their newest creative effort here, complete with a cameo of Stan Lee. Excelsior!!!

I had an awesome time at Matthew's book signing today! Thank you to all the friends, both from camp and otherwise, who forwarded my e-mail to others and came out to support Matthew.

To buy a copy of Hope and the Dragon, click here.



YOUNG AUTHOR OFFERS HOPE TO OTHER CANCER PATIENTS
Pamela Cowan, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post
Published: Saturday, April 21, 2007

REGINA -- Matthew Epp wants other kids with cancer to stay hopeful and "defeat your dragon."

The 14-year-old boy from Fiske hopes to slay the dragon in his life -- a rare form of kidney cancer he's been fighting since he was two.

And he wants to inspire other kids to conquer their dragons with a story he wrote when he was 11 years old and attending Camp Circle O' Friends -- a camp at Lake Diefenbaker for kids with cancer.

Hope & the Dragon is a story about a boy who is undergoing cancer surgery and dreams of a magical land in which a fire-breathing dragon symbolizes cancer. Suited in armour, the boy uses the weapons of faith, hope and courage to successfully conquer the beast.

"I have Hope, Faith and Courage on my side and Love standing guard at my back. No Dragon in the world is a match for all that!" says the character in Epp's book.

That's Matthew's philosophy.

"I've had a relapse and there's really nothing that they can do so I'm just going on with my day and having a good time," Epp said with a smile during an interview this week.

His battle with cancer began in 1994 when he was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour, a kidney cancer that affects children.

His mom, Nicole Epp, said her small son was "quite a trooper" while he underwent 16 months of chemotherapy, the removal of one of his kidneys and radiation.

In August 1998, Matthew relapsed and cancer emerged behind his right lung.

Again he underwent two years of chemotherapy, two weeks of radiation and surgery to remove the tumour.

When another tumour appeared in 2002, Epp required more chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Throughout the numerous treatments he visualized the chemo as "a whole bunch of superheroes and I thought of the cancer as a monster," Epp said.

He changed the monster to a dragon in his book Hope & the Dragon -- a story his grandmother entered in the 2006 Annual Write Contest. As a result of winning the contest, his book was published by Aaspirations Publishing.

Epp believes it takes a combination of hope, courage, faith and love to fight cancer.

"I've always had love surround me," he said. "If mom wasn't at the hospital, my dad would be at the hospital -- there would always be someone with me."

The young author is to sign books at the Saskatoon McNally Robinson Booksellers today at 1 p.m.

"I hope the book will give kids more hope if they have hope and if they don't it will give them hope and that they will know another one of their peers is going through the same thing," Epp said.

His mother echoes Matthew's hope that the book will help others in similar situations.

"What I picture is a mother being able to read this book to their little one who is diagnosed with cancer or some other illness or going through some sort of dragon issue -- something I never had when Matthew was sick," Nicole said.

Matthew's positive attitude helps his family cope on a day-to-day basis, she said.

"As a family, you wait every day for that phone call that there would be something, someday available, but until then you just watch him and enjoy every moment. You do not take life for granted," she said.

A portion of book sales will go toward cancer research for children.

"We want to give that little bit of hope to a child that needs it and then our job will be done," Nicole said.

(REGINA LEADER-POST)

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007

Check out The Faithful Fridge Magnet Company, which "produces funky, fresh, hip and inspirational reminders of the incredible gift of Grace".

Magnets sell for $3/each, and the site is Canadian!

Check out my new bike!

• 26" wheel comfort bike with front suspension
• 21 speed Grip-Shift levers
• Quick-release seat clamp
• Bonus accessories:
  • Water bottle with cage
  • AM/FM radio headlight
  • Rear carrier
  • Front and rear fenders
• Kickstand and reflectors included

Lent is over, and as of today, I have lost about 40 pounds.

I guess miracles really do occur at Easter! Hallejulah!!!

However, I am much more proud of the fact that I have managed to eat healthy and exercise daily every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter, and every day since.

My reward was eating whatever I wanted on Easter Sunday. Whenever I would crave something, I would put it on a mental list ... which ended up being too huge to consume in one day! I dubbed this upcoming event, "The Easter Feaster".

I began with a midnight snack of a gyros wrap from Opa!, a homemade bun, two glasses of Diet Pepsi and four pieces of Toblerone fudge. I had a slice of marble cheese just after sunrise service, then Easter brunch at the Saskatoon Inn, courtesy of my friend Christina. I enjoyed a Belgian waffle with Saskatoon berries and whipped cream, and half a plate of bacon, ham, sausage, crab, shrimp, and smoked salmon, washed down with several Coca Cola Classics. My evening meal was a traditional Easter turkey dinner, prepared by Mark's mother. My only regret was that I couldn't finish my slice of homemade apple pie and ice cream. Aside from snacking throughout the day on Jelly Belly jellybeans and rabbit shaped jujubes, I ended the day off with another glass of Pepsi, and a generous helping of saurkraut prepared with onions and bacon - my dad's recipe.
The next day, I woke up tasting grease and craving salad ... but it was sure fun while it lasted. I've decided that, since this has been working so well, I am going to keep it up. My next "free day" is May 7th: my birthday.

My "Bunny Baskets" present arrived today from Widdrington, UK!

I'll admit that I was beginning to become a bit of a 'doubting Thomas', since Easter was ten days ago ...

"Until I see the package in my mailbox, and open the package, and touch the present I have been sent, I will not believe."

The gift was a handwritten laminated prayer, taken from Celtic Daily Prayer: Inspirational Prayers and Readings from The Northumbria Community.

Dear Karen,

When this reaches you - I hope you will have had a joyous and blessed Easter. Enclosed is your bunny basket gift.

The Northumbria community (where the prayer came from) is about 20 miles up the coast from me. They have a beautiful & inspirational way of worshipping. I hope you agree!

Peace across oceans to you!

Fay XXX

My Prayer For You

May the Father of Lite pour out His grace on you;
May you feel His hand in everything you do
And be strengthened by the things He brings you through;
This is my prayer for you.

May the Son of God be Lord in all your ways;
May He shepherd you the length of all your days,
And in your heart may He receive the praise:
This is my prayer for you.

And despite how simple it may sound,
I pray that His grace will abound
And motivate everything you do;
And may the fullness of His love be shared through you.

May His Spirit comfort you and make you strong,
May He discipline you gently when you're wrong.
And in your heart may He give you a song;
This is my prayer for you.

May Jesus be Lord in all your ways,
May He shepherd you the length of your days.
And in your heart, may He receive the praise:
This is my prayer for you, my prayer for you.

I volunteer each summer at Camp Circle O'Friends for children and youth who have been effected by cancer. This June will be my sixth camp.

Several years ago, one of the campers wrote a story called Hope and the Dragon. Plans were made to publish the story as a children's books and donate the proceeds to cancer research. As of last summer, Matthew's book was available to read in hospital waiting rooms and there were plans to give it free of charge to children who were diagnosed with cancer.

Matthew is having a book signing at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon on Saturday, April 21st from 1:00 to 2:30 PM. He will also be signing his book at Chapters in Regina on Thursday, April 19th at 7 PM and is planning an appearance in Toronto. The cost of the book is $20. Camp Circle O'Friends is giving a book to every camper and volunteer at Camp 2007.

For information on camp registration, becoming a volunteer or donating to Camp Circle O'Friends contact:

P.O. Box 47
Royal University Hospital
Saskatoon, SK
S7N 0W8
E-mail: cfriends@sasktel.net
Phone: (306) 374-2802

I have been catching up on other people's blogs today.
I came across a new photo on Darla and Stu's of their son, Tommy.


They titled it, "Kleenex Inspector".




I thought it was totally cute ...


Would you be able to stay mad at this face?

I recently saw Kevin Bacon on The Ellen DeGeneres Show promoting a new website called SixDegrees.org. This site uses the idea of the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game, and turns it into a way to promote and donate to charities.

Celebrities create badges to ask people to donate to their favorite charities, in the hopes that fans will take an interest, even if only because they are a fan. There is also an opportunity for people who are not celebrities to do the same to raise and to keep track of how much money they raise for charity.



People outside of the United States cannot currently participate, but they are in the process of updating the site to accept Paypal and allow payments from other countries.

This skit appeared on Saturday Night Live this weekend.



My brother had to point out the joke to me.
I guess that shows what a "good girl" I am!

It's "Sofa King" funny!

The other day, I was at Pennington's and noticed that they are now carrying tagless tank tops. I wanted to try one on, so started going through the pile. The had them in 2X, 1X ... and XS.

XS? Doesn't that usually stand for "extra small"?

What size is an extra small at a plus-sized store? A large?

My pastor always tells jokes on Easter Sunday. He says this is an Eastern Orthodox tradition, stemming from the fact that Jesus played the ultimate joke on the Devil by rising from the dead.

Also, he really likes telling jokes.

(My pastor, not Jesus.)

Peter was talking with Joseph of Arimathea and said to him, "Joseph, it sure was nice of you to lend your tomb to Jesus to be buried in".

Joseph replied, "That's okay. He only needed it for the weekend anyway".


A lady opened her refrigerator and saw a rabbit sitting on one of the shelves.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

The rabbit replied, "This is a Westinghouse, isn't it?".

The lady replied, "Yes".

"I'm westing".

Ever wonder what the Easter Bunny is doing the other 364 days a year?

This hymn ("How Deep The Father's Love For Us") always makes me think of Good Friday. In particular, I tend to recall Good Friday of 2004. I had heard this song many times before that day, but when I heard it while driving home from the Good Friday service that year, the lyrics became much more real.


In Bible study this week, one of the elderly men from my church told us that he grew up referring to Good Friday as "Stiller Freitag", which means "Quiet Friday" in German.

The past two Easters, I have participated in an online Easter gift exchange through St. Pixel's, an online church and forum for Christians from Great Britan. At this time last year, St. Pixel's was still operating as "Church of Fools", originating from Ship of Fools.

The organizers of the site proposed we have an Easter gift exchange, with a spending limit of $10.75 Canadian, or five British pounds. You e-mail the organizer about your intention to participate, and they e-mail you another participant's contact information so you can send them an Easter present.

Last year, I received a chick stuffed animal from Harrod's in Knightsbridge and some Green and Black's praline mini eggs. I also got a wooden cross keychain from Los Angeles for participating.

When I saw the tag from Harrod's, I immediately thought of the song from Evita:

No, we wouldn't mind
Seeing her at Harrod's!
But behind the jewelery counter
Not in front!

I was also excited to get the Green and Black's chocolates, because everyone who got some was raving about it ... until I tasted them. They were quite bitter dark chocolate. I tended to compare them to swallowing a teaspoon of cocoa, and got rid of most of them by tempting people to try "a chocolate I got from overseas". After having hers, my mom requested a drink in order to wash the taste out of her mouth.

I decided to participate again this year, and was assigned to shop for a woman from Florida. I was happy not to have to mail to England again this year, because last year, the cost of postage was more than I paid for the present!

This weekend, I noticed that Mary C. posted her reaction to the gift I sent:

I got a wonderful package from Saskatchewan, Canada this morning!!

I've been spoiled. In the package, I found...

• Maple syrup in a beautiful maple leaf-shaped, glass bottle

• A pencil with white bunnies on it

• A beautiful bracelet made up of little crosses of all colors - very pretty

• Chocolate made with Saskatoon berries (I will taste those shortly!)

• An inspirational Easter book with stories, quotes, poems, traditions and other tidbits

• A beautiful Easter card

• A fish-shaped, frosted glass votive holder

• An 'I love JC' magnet

• And last, but definitely not least, postcards about Saskatchewan (which I knew nothing about). On the back of each postcard, missk took the time to write a little information about the place/building/plant pictured on the card. I loved it! I got to learn all sorts of neat things about SK. What a wonderful idea!

Thank you so much, missk!

I haven't received my gift yet, but I'll keep you posted. This just proves that good things can happen when you trust total strangers on the internet with your home address!

This year, I finally learned how to fold a palm cross!

You can find intructions here to make your own.