The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

APRIL 2005 EDITION 

Weight change in April, 192 to 196 (ouch!) 

Reflections on
Karol Wojtyla
 The death of Pope John Paul II was first reported on the Internet just before 10:30AM our time on April 1st.  The story was quickly retracted.  My own take on these events is that the passing of such a prominent figure has rarely been more clearly “telegraphed” to the press.  The world has been prepared to hear the news.  The actual passing was finally reported as 11:37AM our time on April 2nd.  

Just as the death of Mother Teresa will always be associated, in chronology, with that of Princess Diana, so too, the death of this Pope will bring to memory the death of Terri Schiavo.  But Karol Wojtyla of Poland will be remembered for much.  His Roman Catholic conservatism, his championing political freedom, and his many travels around the world come immediately to mind. Most significant is his moral leadership in June 1979.  As ABC news writes, “Less than eight months after his inauguration, he returns to Poland for the first time as pope, for nine cathartic days, setting off sparks that help establish Solidarity, the first independent labor movement in the Soviet bloc.”  He is perhaps as responsible for the end of the Soviet Union as President Ronald Reagan. He is the only Pope most in the world have ever known, having served in that office the third longest time.       
I recall his selection and the voting process of Cardinals and their arcane smoke signals to the Catholic faithful back in October 1978, my first year after college.  While I have no regard for certain unbiblical doctrines and man-made traditions of Roman Catholicism, I have great respect for individual members of that body.  What can be said best about the man is what can be said first and last, he was a man gifted with the only thing in life that matters, faith in Christ.  Those who love Jesus will meet Karol again in a completely joyful place.

An aside on the office of Pope:  In the translator’s preface to John Calvin’s commentary on Romans, the issue of whether or not the Apostle Peter was ever the “Bishop of Rome” is considered.   “What some of the Fathers have related was in the first instance a tradition, as there was nothing recorded on the subject before the latter part of the second century, except what has been ascribed to Dionysius of Corinth, preserved by Eusebius. Irenœus and Tertullian were the first retailers of the tradition, that Peter, in conjunction with Paul, was the founder of the Church at Rome. This tradition increased considerably by the time of Jerome, who, in the fourth century, says, that Peter had been bishop of Rome for twenty-five years! But this account is so clearly inconsistent with what we learn from the Acts of the Apostles respecting Peter, that some of the most reasonable of the Papists themselves have given it up as unworthy of credit.”  If an ancient denomination, bound by its traditions, chooses to be governed in an Episcopal manner (by priests, not elders), that is their choice.  But to claim unique authority for their patriarch from Scripture is to my mind dishonest.  (“And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.” Matthew 23:9 NIV)  The ‘Holy Father’ does not sit in Rome.  HE sits enthroned in Heaven.

 
An Annual Tradition Continues
The Bellevue Sleight's are both 'people of the Book' and book people.  We love books.  Significant amounts of reading was perhaps the only actual "method" we employed in home schooling our children. And it apparently worked.

Sunday, April 17th, I was ambivalent about resting at home or driving Annie and her friends to a book sale.  So I prayed about it and God's answer came as Proverbs 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD."  Annie was quite willing to do the driving (but I love a book sale too).  I flipped a coin and it came up "heads dad drives."  Suddenly I didn't feel so tired.
 

The semi-annual Seattle Public Library Friends of the Library book sale is a sight to behold. It is held at Magnuson Park in a huge old airplane hanger that was part of the Sand Point Naval Air Station.     And on its final day, paperbacks are 25 cents and hardback books are 50 cents.  Even the $8 I spent bought a huge pile.  Annie found twice as many and her two school friends were equally delighted.
 

Shoe-Bomb Conspirator Sentenced to 13 Yrs.  (From an AP News Story / April 22)

. . . In letters to his parents written before the bomb plot and read in court Friday, Badat said he was disillusioned with Britain. "I have a sincere desire to sell my soul to Allah in return for paradise," he said in a letter prosecutors said was found along with explosives at his home.

We can not “sell our soul” to God since it is already his property by right of creation (he made it) and by right of redemption (he bought it).  But we may attempt to sell it to another whose false promises even tempted Christ after forty days in the wilderness.  If the quote above is an accurate reflection of Islamic theology then it is indeed satanic.  Paradise is a free gift, it can not be bought at any price.

I've Got a Bad Felling About This...

Russia, China, Iran, North Korea; they all look like growing trouble makers in the world.  And there's not much we can do about it short of prayer.  They may be the instruments of God's just wrath on a smug and selfish West in future years.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (4/29/05) Russian President Vladimir Putin bows his head as he pays his respects at the tomb of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat...

Opening Day, April 4th
I have a confession to make.  I am still a sports fan.  I love to watch Annie and Nathanael compete.  And of all the college and professional teams, there is still one I root for above all others: the Seattle Mariners.

By the world's standards, I'm no fan at all.  I only go to the games when I can get a free ticket.  But on Opening Day, once again hope springs eternal.

Our House from Space

This satellite image of our house came from maps.google.com.  Click on it to see our neighborhood in west Bellevue.  Bellevue Christian School is in the upper left and my church, First Presbyterian is in the upper right of the larger image.  See how our .42 acres is surrounded by trees.  

Somebody Got it Right

Can a Christian be a successful car salesman?  You bet.  Mr. Don Flow of North Carolina had been our guest here in SBE this week.  I have finally seen the Kingdom principles at work on Earth in his companies.  Who would have thought it would be in a holding company of car dealerships.  Maybe someday he'll write a book, but here's one of his many themes that he uses.

His “Leadership Principles” are only a small taste of the way he has wed his faith and his work.

          S = Show Respect
          E = Earn Trust
          R = Reach for Excellence
          V = Value People
          E = Energize Others

Annie in the News
Annie continues to receive honors.  Along with the $2000 Eaton Scholar Award she learned about last month, she learned this month that she has won an SPU Merit Fellowship Scholarship of over $8000.  And both of these awards are "renewable."  She will also receive a one-time Valedictorian Scholarship of $1500.  All her hard work has been rewarded.  This photo shows her at one of her two TV appearances on the "High Five" quiz game show on KOIN (Portland) where her mastery of literature, geography and science really helped the BCS team.

Beau Jest at Taproot Theatre, April 13th
To celebrate the completion of the Income Taxes and to have a family adventure during the kids' Spring Break, the family went to see
Beau Jest at Taproot Theatre.  We have seen the male lead, actor Timothy Hornor (left), in three other Sleight family favorites at Taproot.  The story is of a Jewish girl who hires an actor (Hornor) to play her new Jewish boyfriend, to please her parents because they would not accept her current Gentile love interest.  Alas, she falls for the actor, also a Gentile, and the hilarious and poignant plot thickens. When she receives marriage proposals from both, she must choose.  I felt both the pain of the one not chosen and the joy of the true love. It was a wonderful comedy about honesty and love and family.  We all loved it.

A Mid-month Mini Vacation at the Camlin
My dad took advantage of his WorldMark timeshare membership to book three nights at the elegantly restored Camlin Hotel, originally built in 1926.  It is at 9th Avenue between Pine St. and Olive Way.  I stayed with him on Monday and Tuesday nights, April 18-19. 

Since I was out late at our New Majors' Dessert (where I gave the Invocation and ran the technology as usual), it was great to just hop the #17 bus afterwards and walk a few blocks to "my" hotel.  I got back in time to enjoy the pool and hot tub.  Dad had left a note that I'd find him there.  (Black boxers look enough like a swim suit to fake it.)

Now I can better imagine the attractiveness of downtown living.  A 15 minute commute sure beats my 60 minute one.

Breakfast at McDonalds was my choice although we had a kitchenette.  Dad was happy to split his Redhook beer with me. (I think he buys Redhook to support the brewery in which he owns stock.) I'm the only one of his sons who drinks with him.  He never had alcohol in the house when we were growing up.  Here I am in the lounge on the 11th floor which is all that is left of the old Cloud Room restaurant and lounge.  It was a fun mid-month diversion.

My Top 10 Favorite Movies "of All Time"
No doubt this list would change a bit each time I were to revisit it, but it's an interesting exercise.  Is there any pattern here?  Adventure? Romance?  Perhaps one -- to battle for the right against seemingly impossible odds.  Well, maybe Singin' in the Rain represents all the musicals I love -- but the others do make a pattern of sorts.  Interesting that so many touch on war.

1.  Chariots of Fire (1981)  How like Harold Abrahams I am.  How like Eric Liddell I wish I were.  This was an easy choice for #1.

2.  Master & Commander - The Far Side of the World (2003) False to the letter of the the Patrick O'Brian novels, but oh so true to the spirit of those marvelous books. 

3.  Independence Day (1996) Like something Heinlein might have written for young readers -- improbable, entertaining, and full of heroes, humor and heart.  Every great hero needs a truly ruthless villain.

4.  Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) A complete story. Hard knocks and happy endings -- duty, courage, honor -- and Gregory Peck.

5.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)  A triumph for truth and virtue against big odds -- and the matchless Jimmy Stewart.

6.  The Lord of the Rings / Trilogy  (2001-2003) 

Frodo Baggins:   I can't do this Sam.
Sam Gamgee:   I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo:   What are we holding on to Sam?
Sam:   That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

7.  Midway (1976)  June 1942, the providential improbability of victory in the face of overwhelming odds -- and this time, history played out better than any fiction.

8.  The Great Escape (1963)  Our daily lives should reflect such determination and discipline.

9.  The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (It's hard to be a hero, it's hell not to be.)

10.  Singin' in the Rain  (1952)  I love musicals.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Kismet, My Fair Lady or Brigadoon could make this list. They are all love stories.

Ching Fang Hsu went peacefully to the Lord, Sunday night (4/24) after 84 years of a fruitful life in China, Korea and the USA. He was the youngest of 5 siblings born in Jilin, China with a given name of Yan Ju. He survived 3 wars. On his own he learned commerce, Japanese, Korean and also Russian. When the Communists invaded Northern China in 1946 and began placing bounties on private merchants, he escaped the country on foot in the winter with his wife to North and South Korea to operate Chinese restaurants. In 1957, he and his wife were sponsored by the University Presbyterian Church to Seattle. He was the first in Seattle to introduce authentic Northern Chinese cuisine in 1965 by starting the Harbin Restaurant. He was one of the founding members of the Evangelical Chinese Church in Seattle. Despite all the physical and mental hardships, his unwavering faith in Jesus Christ sustained him. He is survived by his beloved wife of 63 years, Wen Wha, his sons Ron (Teresa), Larry (Esther) and Richard (Linda) and daughters Ruth (Paul) and Mary Li (Dexter) and 11 grandchildren.

The Great Flood of '05
I have never before had reason to call the university "911" line.  But it happened on my watch.  Friday morning, April 29th, just at the 10:50AM class break, a valve broke in a McKenna Hall water line. As our foyer filled with water, I called Safety and Security who I knew had a hotline to the Facilities folks.  Before the break occurred we already knew that we had a water pressure problem.  I'd reported water problems earlier in the week.  The foyer, main hallway, computer classroom and another classroom have water damage, thankfully on the floors only.  I was the only staff member in the building. But I am the "Facilities Manager" for the building so it has been a busy day.  What a surprise.

Bits and Pieces

• I took Nate to the UW Engineering Open House on the 23rd.  It is always strange to revisit the classrooms and offices where I had so much history.  It's awkward, like talking with an old girlfriend.  It really happened.  But I live in another world now. 
• Mid-term report cards came out and Annie had yet another 4.00 and Nate had a 3.77.  J.B. had all A+ grades again.
• Why is my weight going UP?  Lack of discipline (of course), but fatigue, depression, and a lack of focus take the edge off of discipline.  And then, I have a hard time saying no to free food and spring quarter seems to be one dessert, luncheon, or dinner after another.  (I'm full of excuses aren't I.)
• Sometimes it pays to push a little.  I'd decided it was past time to replace the broken microwave oven.  Nancy did not want to go shopping so I took Jeannie Beth to Sears after her gymnastics lesson on the 28th.  I wanted the $99 model but Jeannie insisted Nancy would like the $119 model better. So I had the clerk check on the availability of two models, they didn't have the lower priced one in stock but the $119 one was on sale for $59.99 through Saturday.  Plus they gave us an additional $5 coupon.  Wow, how providential!  Happy Mother's Day, Nancy!