07.18.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:10 pm by Garry Friesen
CLASSIC Friesen Update
Originally sent July 11, 2003
Dear Family & Friends,
They tell me that my lawn needs aeration. The rental aerator machine is $50, and I could not pull the trigger to pay that amount. Anyway, all you get is a lawn that looks like Canadian Geese were there after a big meal. So I took a short-cut. Usually a bad idea. I am now the proud owner of one pair of genuine high test, tensile strength, steel spiked, Aeration Shoes. These are army boots with an attitude. They strap over your shoes and look like something a Dalai Lama might lay on for meditation. That is, they have two-inch nails where the soles should be. If your ground is real hard, they become elevated sandals. They are best used at midnight when no one is watching. The idea is to stomp all over the lawn and poke holes so water can get to the grass roots. Ever try to cover an entire lawn one footprint at a time? And, don’t walk over newly seeded grass for they tend to pick up softer dirt in large clumps. So far the lawn looks about the same, but the neighbors have changed. Instead of saying “Hello,” they stop and ask “What in the world were you doing at midnight?”
Garry
The photo promised last time can only be seen on the blog site. This week there is an exclusive picture of the Beaver’s Lodge:
https://blogs.multnomah.edu/FriesenFortnightly/
PS: There will be no Friesen Fortnightly for several weeks as I return to Michigan for two family reunions and to Minnesota to visit friends.
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07.14.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:01 am by Garry Friesen
Sent 7/14/08
Dear Family & Friends,
The second C.S. Lewis children’s story, Prince Caspian, has hit the screen (Andrew Adamson, Director, screen play co-author). My C.S. Lewis class created two exclusive showings on opening weekend with 500 friends. We dressed the part (see below Mrs “Lisa” Macready, Prof “G” Kirke along with a dryad and Lucy). What about the movie? The movie fared better against the inevitable comparisons to Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. There was better acting, better directing, excellent themes, and wonderful fight sequences. In a word, I liked “Crince Paspian”. That is, it was a great movie, but what happened to Prince Caspian? Peter has a power struggle with Caspian – great theme, but made up. The night-time attack on Miraz’s castle is breath taking – but made up. The night-time revelation of Aslan to believing Lucy is there – but happens in the daytime and misses the punch line. Aslan says that he is the same, but looks bigger because Lucy has grown. “Every year you grow, I will look bigger.” We now get, you grow and I grow. The very likeable Trumpkin is an annoying midget rather than the DLF. The temptation of Peter by the White Witch is impressive – but made up. The Aslan scenes are short and not memborable. Is it just me, or did the genius director save his best work for his own creations and left the average film making for the actual story. Crince Paspian gets an A- from this prof, but Prince Caspian gets a B-.
G
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07.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:39 pm by Garry Friesen
CLASSIC Friesen Update
Originally sent Aug. 31, 2002
Dear Family & Friends,
Richard Nixon’s former hatchet man, Charles Colson, is a hero for many. William Wilberforce is one of Colson’s heroes. Our reading group just finished Wilberforce’s book, A Practical View of Christianity. It explains why he labored so long to end slave trading in England. British pundit, Boswell, called him “a perfect shrimp,” but later conceded that “presently the shrimp has swelled into a whale.” His enemies hated him for pushing his morals into the public square. He cared supremely what God thought about freeing slaves, but not a whit what anyone else thought. His speeches in Parliament must have been better than his writing style. He sent his book to the converted slaver, John Newton, and said, “I scarcely suppose that your leisure will be sufficient to enable you to fight through the whole of it.” We fought through the whole book and we recommend the edited version by Multnomah Publ. After ending slave trading, Wilberforce fought another 18 years to end the English institution of slavery. It came three days before his death. He was then welcomed by the One whose opinion motivated him most.
Garry
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06.29.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:04 am by Garry Friesen
Dear Family & Friends,
Our Council of Elders at Imago Dei Community has a reading list to sharpen elders and prepare new elders for the biblical and wisdom needs of shepherding. Larry Osborne’s The Unity Factor: Getting Your Church Leaders to Work Together is on the list. He has a knack for proverbs. My favorites:
Criticism and compliments should be weighed, not counted.
Avoid ministry that resembles a bus with one accelerator and 60 sets of brakes.
There is a great difference between unfair criticism & faithful wounds of a friend.
On congregational voting: some “would vote against the Second Coming if given a chance.”
Churches are a lot like horses. They don’t like to be startled or surprised. It causes deviant behavior.
On a church split where he sarcastically says that they left “so they could worship God as He commanded, in pews rather than chairs.”
We must have the courage to give a once-popular ministry a Christian burial.
Studies show that 7-10 percent of people will be unhappy no matter what.
Friends discuss, strangers argue.
Initiating and designing ministry are individual skills, while evaluating and critiquing are group skills.
Under the Chief Shepherd,
Garry
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06.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:05 am by Garry Friesen
Dear Family & Friends,
I thought I saw a miracle this week. Amy & Christy who help clean our house ran
upstairs. “Dr. G, you have to see this.? I darted to the basement and watched
a growing black puddle. Maybe it was black gold! I could not remember a drain
at that spot. It was like the changing of water into wine, and the wine was coming right out of the cement floor! Then, I took a whiff. It was water changing into sewage not wine. It was either a miracle or we had a plugged drainage pipe. I put on rubber gloves which were large enough for a dwarf. My hands were losing circulation, but under the dark water I pulled off the drain cap. I grabbed my sewage snake and jammed it down the pipe. Twist, jam, twist, jam, spray room with deodorant, twist, jam, twist, jam. The snake went 25 feet on a search and unplug mission. The snake did not have a sensitive nose, so it would stop at nothing. I reeled it back in. The snake returned with attached cargo which told me that the blockage culprit was celery which had gone through the garbage disposal. I had always suspected that vegetables were bad for your health. Now I had the proof, almost miraculous proof.
Garry
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06.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:04 pm by Garry Friesen
Dear Family & Friends,
I couldn´t hold out any longer. I wanted to live my whole life without a ball
and chain better known as the cell phone. My surrender started when our lead pastor had trouble getting me on the phone about an important matter for the council of elders. His words rang in my ears. “Get a cell phone. I have to be able to quickly contact the chairman of the elders.? I ordered it on line and then pushed the “purchase? button. Nothing happened. Was it a sign? I pushed it again and unfortunately the sale went through. The cell phone arrived, but it took me nearly a week to open the ball and chain box. Once opened the guys at Aslan´s How got me set up and put a picture of Aslan on the phone face. I tried, but at firt I just could not hook it to my belt. I waited a week before making my first call. It was to my mother on mother´s day. The call crashed by a low battery. It took another week to overcome my resistance and make more calls. I called our lead pastor to say that the ball & chain hung from my belt. He could call anytime my battery was not crashing. I´ve entered the 21st century with resistance.
Don’t call me
I’ll call you,
G
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06.07.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:25 pm by Garry Friesen
Friesen CLASSIC Update
Originally sent Oct 26, 2002
Dear Family & Friends,
Lately I’ve been telling students that I hope to learn to pray before I die. This update from 2002 was a good reminder.
I’ve been thinking about prayer lately which is much easier than actually praying. I’ve decided that prayer is like putting your hand through a mail slot. My conclusion was reached via our church’s final service before a merger. We had a sharing time recounting God’s grace over the last 30 years. Miriam shared about Reilly and their daughter when they first visited the church. After the service, he stepped outside, but his daughter, Melody, did not come out. By then the door was locked and could only be opened with a key. Reilly called through the mail slot in the large oak door, “Melody are you in there?” The small frightened voice of a 4 yr old answered, “Yes, daddy.” Then Melody put her hand through the mail slot so daddy could hold it until someone fetched a church key. Melody could not see anyone, but she knew her father was there and she was comforted. Prayer is like a hand slipped through a mail slot. The Father is there listening and comforting even when you do not see Him. This week I plan on sticking my hand through the slot a good many times.
Garry
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06.03.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:57 pm by Garry Friesen
Dear Family & Friends,
Most Christian churches have two ordinances, but some have a third–foot washing. During the final passover meal Jesus tied a towel around himself and washed His disciples’ feet. Then he said, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” (John 13:14-15). At our day of prayer this semester we were given the opportunity to wash someone else’s feet. I do not think that it is a third ordinance, but it certainly is a biblical example and symbol of a servant-like Christ follower. I noticed Tall Boy nearby. We have shared a home, Aslan’s How, and an accountability group together over the last two years. Why not share clean feet? Stephen and I did a reciprocal footwashing at the side of the chapel using the bowl and towels supplied. Both of us already had clean feet. We were not wearing sandals and had not walked through dusty Jerusalem streets. Regardless, our feet got squeaky clean and our spirits more humble like the Servant who left heaven to make our feet and hearts clean.
Garry
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05.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:13 am by Garry Friesen
Friesen CLASSIC Update
Originally sent July 5, 2003
I recently revisited one of my favorite documentaries, “Spellbound” and thought the update from 2003 would be a good “classic” to revisit too.
From 2003
Dear Family & Friends,
Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound starred Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. But Jeffrey Blitz’s current Spellbound stars Harry, Angela, Ted, April, Neil, Nupur, Emily, and Ashley as themselves. I just saw the documentary movie “Spellbound”. Eight 14 year olds go to the finals of the National Spelling Bee. It was one of ESPN’s highest rated specials. It would have been bad acting except they weren’t acting. I wanted them all to beat the dictionary, but only one finalist out of 250 would never mispell (or misspell or miss spell) a word. They did not all come from highbrow families. Emily’s father could not speak English (“The cows don’t speak English” he said in Spanish). Neil was an athlete and Angela came from a rough neighborhood in D.C. It is “a nail-biting face-off among hundreds of teens who train as rigorously as any Olympic athlete.” I was especially cheering for Georgie. The interviewer asked him for his formula for success. “There are three things,” he said, “1. Trust in Jesus, 2. Honor your parents, 3. Work Hard.” Georgie, even if you miss the word “cephalagia,” you are ready for life.
Garry
PS – We had about 500 people for our exclusive showings of “Prince Caspian” during opening weekend.
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05.18.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:42 pm by Garry Friesen
Dear Family & Friends,
Earlier I wrote of the “Advent Conspiracy” which Imago Dei Community began at Christmas time. That conspiracy was a catalyst for “The Marriage Conspiracy”. This is a good description of the recent wedding of Doug and Vania Moore. Doug is the son of friends from high school days (Linda & Gene). Doug heard about Imago Dei in Dallas, TX and came to stay at Aslan’s How for a week to experience our church. He returned quickly to join our church family and then noticed a beautiful musician on the worship team. In a home community group they connected and decided to covenant for a lifetime as man and wife. They shocked the wedding guests with a request that they be given no gifts. Rather, they asked us to give gifts to Africans to supply fresh water wells. As in all Portland weddings there was celebration and rejoicing with the new couple. But this wedding was a conspiracy! Its rejoicing reached to the continent of Africa where gulps of clear, clean, water kept people rejoicing. Think of it. Doug and Vania got married and Africans are getting living water from Jesus as a result.
G
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