Vacation Pictures

You can take a look at our family vacation pictures here and our day at Sequoia National Park here.

Manning Kids

A sample of recent sayings and conversations from the Manning kids:
Andrew and Elizabeth (5), pretending to be superheroes:
Andrew: My guy is kinda like Iron Man, but he shoots lava out of his hands, like this: WHOOSH! BAM!
Elizabeth: My superhero is like Iron Man too, but her helmet covers up her hair so bad guys can't tell she's a girl. And she wears a skirt that comes down to here, and boots that come up to here.

Peter (6), warning his siblings against entering his fort: Avandish hope, all he who enter here!

Caleb (7), watching cool reflected lights: Wow! It's so exciting! It's like one of those dinko parties!
Me: Like what?
Caleb: You know, with the ball with mirrors on it.
Me: You mean a disco ball?

New Family Picture!

Front row: Anna, 5 (soon to be adopted); Caleb, 6; Andrew, 5.

Middle row: Ian, 8; Barbara, 27 (or at least she still looks like it); Gary, 41; Harley, 6 (soon to be adopted).

Back row: Nathan, 13; Daniel, 9; Josiah, 14.

We took these pictures recently for our annual Christmas picture. As usual, my wife bought me a new coffee mug with the picture wrapped around it. I always like handing the mug to the baristas at Starbucks and getting their reaction: "Is this your family? How beautiful!"

Baptism Pictures

Daniel getting baptized last month.

Baptism Pictures

Nathan, our second son, was also baptized in October. Baptizing him is Pastor Mike Kai, Pastor Mark Peterman, and me.

Baptism Pictures

Josiah, our oldest son, was also baptized in October. Baptizing him is Pastor Mike Kai, Pastor Mark Peterman, and me.

Baptism Pictures

In October, four of our boys were baptized.

Here's Caleb (age 6), who was very excited about getting baptized. Pastor Mike Kai, Pastor Mark Peterman and I did the baptism.


We may need to baptize this foot again some day.

Haleakala Slide Show

Here's a slide show of our Haleakala trip. Thanks to Rich, who put all our pictures together and made the slide show. There's some background music to the slide show, so turn on your volume if you want. You can also look at all the pictures on Flickr.

Picture from Haleakala

We just got back yesterday from our three-day back-packing trip through Haleakala National Park.

Here's the first photo - all packed up and ready to start the hike. We are at about 10,000 feet at the Summit parking lot, about to go down the Sliding Sands trail into the crater. In the background are several observatories. Left to right: Me, Nathan, Josiah, Daniel (the Mannings), Bryan, Bradley, Rich (the Fewells). Rich and I did this hike together with our friend Aaron Johnson 23 years ago.

Haleakala Trip

This weekend is a backpacking trip! All of us (me, my three oldest boys, my friend Rich, and his two boys) will be flying to Maui this weekend to backpack through Haleakala National Park for three days. Whenever cell phone reception is good, Rich will be posting photos and audioblogs directly from the crater to his blog - be sure to go there to see the pictures, starting on Saturday, Oct 11.

The Difference Between Grace and Mercy

Question: What is the difference between grace and mercy?

When I was growing up in church, I used to hear the saying, "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve, and grace is when you get what you don't deserve." The idea was that mercy is withholding deserved punishment, and grace is an undeserved gift. In recent years, I have heard people say that when you first fail, you need grace, but if you continue to fail, then you need mercy.

Both ideas roughly represent what modern people mean when they say mercy or grace in English. But the Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and so those definitions are not adequate when we read the Bible, although they aren't completely wrong, either.

So before we get simple, we'll have to get a little complicated. Words in all languages change their meaning depending on their context. For example, in English, the word head can refer to a leader, a bathroom on a ship, the froth on beer, a high peninsula, or many other things depending on the context. Grace and mercy in the biblical languages are no different - they have different meanings depending on the context.

Grace in the Old Testament: Grace is the translation of the Hebrew cheyn, meaning favor. Two good examples are "But Noah found grace / favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen 6:8) and "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace / favor to the humble" (Prov 3:34). In these sorts of passages, cheyn refers to God (or people) being favorably disposed to do good things for someone.

Grace in the New Testament: Grace is the translation of the Greek charis. The basic sense of charis is a gift, or the generosity that inspires that gift. So when Paul says, "For by grace you are saved through faith..." (Eph 2:8), we can say that it is by God's sheer generosity that we receive the gift of salvation (for more on charis, see this post).

Mercy in the OT and in the Gospels: Mercy translates the Hebrew chesed (in the OT) and the Greek eleos and oiktirmos (in the NT). Mercy, like compassion, is when we see someone in need and respond with both pity and action. The blind man of Jericho cried out to Jesus for mercy, because he was in great need (Luke 18:38-39). The Samaritan is described as merciful because he helped the injured traveller (Luke 10:37). Giving to the poor is an act of mercy (eleemosune, Matt 6:2-4). When Jesus blessed the merciful (Matt 5:7), he was talking about people who respond with pity and action to those in need.

Mercy in Paul's letters: Paul usually uses mercy in the same way as the Gospels and the OT. But sometimes, Paul uses the word mercy to describe God's forgiveness of our sins (Rom 11:30-32, 1 Tim 1:13). This is closely related to the meaning of mercy in the rest of the Bible. If we see the hungry, showing mercy means feeding them; when God sees sinners, showing mercy means providing forgiveness.

So, what's the simple answer to the question? Grace and mercy are not totally different; both attributes are at work when God saves us. It is mercy because God sees our desperate need and acts out of pity. It is grace because God gives salvation generously. But we need to be careful not to see mercy and grace as only gifts from God. God expects us to give mercy by helping those in need, and to be gracious by being generous with all that we have.

The picture: Noah's Ark, by Peter Spier. One of my sons loved this book. The first page begins "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord," and the last page shows Noah planting a vineyard. One day he asked me if God liked grapes. I said I was sure he did, but why did he ask? He answered, "Because Noah found grapes in the eyes of the Lord."

Trinity for Toddlers

A conversation overheard between Ian, our seven-year-old, and Andrew, our three-year-old (of jelly bean fame). (At right: Caleb, Andrew, Ian)

Ian: No, there's only one god.

Andrew: Oh!

Ian: Actually, there are two gods, God and Jesus.

Andrew: Yeah, God and Jesus.

Ian: Actually there are three gods: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.

Andrew: Yeah, he's the bad guy.

Ian: No! They are all good guys. The Holy Ghost is a good guy.

Andrew: Yeah, all good guys.

Ian: Actually, there are four gods: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and Satan. He's the bad guy.

Andrew: Yeah, he's the bad guy.

Ian: Andrew, you know why the world isn't perfect? It's because of Satan.

Andrew: Oh.

Ian: That's why grass is so itchy, because of Satan.

Andrew: Yeah.

The picture: The Trinity, 1414, from the workshop of the Master of the Gerona Martyrology. It follows the pattern of a gnadenstuhle, or "pillar of grace," which includes a cross, the Son sitting in the Father's lap, and the Spirit as a dove (usually resting on the cross or descending towards it).

Caleb the Vegetarian

Me: Caleb, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Caleb: a vegetarian.

Me: Oh?

Caleb: Yes, I want to take care of animals. Are there possums?

Me: Yes, possums are real.

Caleb: Are there possums in Hawaii?

Me: No, but they are on the Mainland.

Caleb: How about Africa?

Me: I'm not sure. We can look it up. Do you want to be a zoo veterinarian?

Caleb: No, just a regular animal vegetarian. I will take care of baby animals and then sell them back to their mommies.

Me: Actually, it's called a veterinarian.

Caleb: Oh, a vegetinarian.

Blind Devotion? (Luke 14:26)

A few weeks ago, someone asked about how to interpret Luke 14:26, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Is this blind devotion? If so, isn't blind devotion dangerous - kind of Hitlerish?

The devotion that Jesus called for is radical, but not blind. Note the next few verses: "For which of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it will begin to mock him." Jesus then tells a similar parable about a king preparing for war (Luke 14: 28-32).

Jesus' point is this: we must enter the kingdom open-eyed, recognizing what it may cost. This is much like the parables of the pearl and the buried treasure in Matthew 13:44-46. It is only rational to sell everything one has to buy a property that has a fortune buried in it. In the same way, it makes sense to be willing to pay anything to gain the kingdom.

What about paying the cost of hating your family? In the parallel passage in Matthew 10:37-38, Jesus says "The one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." In Matthew's context, it is clear that Jesus is warning about the division that can come in a home when one person becomes a disciple of Jesus and others do not. In many cases, new believers can feel rejected, or even be expelled from their families. In such cases, Jesus says, one must decide which relationship to keep. In Luke 14 and Matthew 10, Jesus is saying that if you have to choose, choose him. Ideally, we don't have to choose - our non-believing family members tolerate our faith, or come to also trust in Jesus. But if they force us to make a choice - choose Jesus, every time.

Both passages remind us that the same is true of life itself. In most cases, the non-believing world allows us to keep living if we become Christians. But if it forces a choice upon us of living without Jesus or dying with Jesus - choose Jesus, every time. Easy to say, not so easy to do.

The picture: Luke 14:26, from The Brick Testament.

Blind Devotion and Faith (Luke 14:26)

Anonymous posted this provocative question:

There was a story in the news this week about the presidential candidates attending a prayer group. In it, they mention this verse: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

This kind of commitment was compared to the blind devotion given to Hitler. Blind devotion and faith aren't the same thing, are they? What did Jesus mean by this verse? And (real life question...) what happens when loving God & loving our families seem to come in conflict? Who is supposed to "understand" why they can't have my full devotion or attention? Thanks so much for the blog, Gary!

Looks like there are at least three questions to tackle here: 1) What did Jesus mean in Luke 14:26? 2) What is the difference between blind (dangerous) devotion and faith? 3) What do we do when loyalties to God and family conflict?

Now is where you come in. Post your thoughts on any or all of the questions.

Andrew and the Jelly Bean Crisis

Andrew Mandrew is my nickname for our three-year-old, Andrew. His name means "manly," so that's where the "Mandrew" came from. We have six sons, but I think Andrew beats them all for mischief. Here's a brief list of the havoc he has wreaked in the last several months:

• Poured gallons of water on the bathroom flour
• Poured flour all over the kitchen
• Opened a child-safe bottle of Tylenol (yes, emergency-room visit resulted, but he didn't eat any)
• Opened a child-safe bottle of Zyrtec (a children's decongestant)
• Ate handfuls of sugar, leaving himself and the kitchen sticky
• Snuck outside and opened the car doors partially, causing the battery to die
• Poured salt all over the kitchen
• Ate several Tums
• Took handfuls of frosting from a cake left out to cool
• Poured salt all over his bed
• Got into the Easter candy a week early and ate all of his and one brother's candy
• Poured water into the sugar container
• Microwaved a Hot Wheels car until it burst into flames
• Poured out at least three bottles of shampoo over toilet, counter, and tub
• Covered his body with postage stamps
• Watered the dog and dog house (maybe he thought they would grow)
• Watered his car seat when it was left in the garage
• Covered his arms in bandaids
• Rubbed chocolate into the carpet
• Squeezed a whole bottle of neosporin onto the bathroom counter
• Poured out a whole jar of peanut butter (pure kind, so it pours)
• Colored his arms with a marker
• Destroyed his brothers' carefully made Lego models
• Rubbed toothpaste all over the counter
• Colored his face with a marker
• Destroyed his brother's artwork
• Turned on the hose and flooded the side yard
• Destroyed his mother's artwork
• Stuck a jelly bean so far up his nose that we almost had to take him to the emergency room (the most recent offense, which stimulated today's blog)

What's amazing is how happy he remains throughout all the chaos, or maybe it's because of the chaos.

So no scripture interpretation blog for today. But after rushing home from work to help deal with the Jelly Bean Crisis, I had to blog about Andrew. For those of you anxious for Bible blogs, I will post another by Friday.