The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

MARCH 2007 EDITION 

Weight change in March, 198.5 to 200 

Wrestling season was well over, but the end-of-season banquet at BCS was quite a special night on Monday the 5th.  I provided a long PowerPoint presentation set to  music that played while we ate and followed that up with a video of some of the best take downs and pins of the season.  Once the video ended, I restarted the PowerPoint which played silently on the big screen behind the coaches while they made the announcements of awards.  And, once again, Nathanael received more than his share of accolades.  The table at the right tells the story of his season ― his team ranking for each statistic.  

Head Coach Bill Detlor remarked that Nathanael was the most innovative wrestler on the team. It was rich praise, but also code for "I don't know what the heck he's doing out there but it works!"  Nathanael is often quite unorthodox in his style.  But his signature move, the cradle (or the "Sladle" as the team calls it now), was well remarked upon.  From just about any position, standing, kneeling or prone, Nate would grab a head and leg and lock his grip and ease his opponent into an often match-ending pin with his legs flailing helplessly in the air.  (Or in the case of this Ocosta fellow, [above] sprawled for many minutes on the mat unable to rise.)   

He used front cradles, back cradles, and even a "suicide" cradle where he rolled into a back cradle by rolling over his own back. This Lake Washington Kang even resorted to grabbing his uniform (a penalty) in desperation at the Mt. Baker tournament. This guy had pinned Nate in the first round earlier in the day, but Nate won two matches and got a second shot at him.  In the rematch, Nate triumphed with his cradle and took 3rd place..

And to top it off, Nathanael received certificates recognizing his 2 point and 3 point near fall totals as new BCS single-season records.  He also leads in career escapes and is tied for the lead in career 4 point near falls. One more quality season will etch his name deeply in the BCS wrestling record books ― those records which, for the sake of the team, we hope will be often broken.

His teammates received special awards too.  Senior David Del Moro was named Most Inspirational and received the Paul Perkins Character Award.  Kevin Yoo was named MVP, Andrew Perkins Most Improved, and Jon Fouquier Top Newcomer.

Once the coach asked Nate during practice what move he would use on an opponent in a particular position.  Nate said, "I'm thinking cradle!"  To which the coach replied, "Sleight, if he was doing jumping jacks, you'd be thinking cradle."

32:7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, "Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. . . . 11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why doth Thine anger burn against Thy people whom Thou hast brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 

Who is trying to pass the buck for this "stiff necked" people? 

32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" 14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

Children have one trump card to play when faced with an unyielding parent ― "but you promised!"

Ex 34:6-7  "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

People balk at that "visiting the iniquity of the fathers" part.  But considered differently, perhaps the strongest
incentive for faithful people to remain such, is to protect their own children from the nuclear fallout of their own sins.
 

On March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, Phil Voigt did not make it to Bible study.  His wife had told one of our members that he had lost hope that modern medicine would find yet another new drug to battle his cancer.  For over eleven years he has fought the good fight.  From time to time I think about what I would say at his memorial service.  I'll be giving that more thought.  I am reminded of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20...

On March 27th, Bob Disher treated us to lunch at China Harbor on Lake Union.  He brought his wife Kim and younger son Tim (grade 9, also a scout and a wrestler) with Tom to SPU after Spring Break.

Annie's Particular Friend Tom   Annie was not one to date or have boyfriends in high school, so when she and Tom Disher, an SPU freshman, went on a date and started popping up together regularly, I felt I was seeing history repeat itself.  College romances do have lifetime consequences, whether they lead to lives together or apart. When winter quarter ended, Annie brought Tom home from the dorm for breakfast and then his dad Bob (from Dallas, Oregon) picked him up at the track meet. Tom comes from a loving Christian family, has a history in Scouting not unlike my own, and no doubt has many fine qualities.  But still, as someone has remarked, fathers will forever see their daughters as violins in the hands of gorillas.

Jesus never separates repentance from those “works in keeping with repentance.” In fact, for him the genuineness of the disciple’s repentance is concretely demonstrated by those works.

 ― Dr. Rob Wall, SPU School of Theology (!Facnet email)
 

It Won't be Global Warming... The next 50 years (if God allows) will see world changes that make the huge changes of the last fifty years look insignificant.  And I'm of the opinion that it won't be climate changes that are the paramount cause of crises.  Read on:          Mark Steyn, in "It's the Demography, Stupid," says, "...Europe by the end of this century will be a continent after a neutron bomb:  The grand buildings will still be standing, but the people who built them will be gone." What happened?  Europeans (and most developed countries) had too few children for too long.  It takes 2.1 children per woman for a generation merely to replace itself.  But Steyn lists Western birthrates per woman as: United States 2.07, Ireland 1.87, New Zealand 1.79, Australia 1.76, Canada 1.5, Germany and Austria 1.3, Russia and Italy 1.2, Spain 1.1, adding: "That's to say, Spain's population is halving every generation.  By 2050, Italy's population will have fallen by 22%, Bulgaria's by 36%, Estonia's by 52%." Further, "We're pretty much awash in resources, but we're running out of people - the one truly indispensable resource, without which none of the others matter." "Russia's the most obvious example: it's the largest country on earth, it's full of natural resources, and yet it's dying - its population is falling calamitously." The developed world declined from 30% of global population in 1970 to 20% in 2000, while the Muslim world grew from 15% to 20%.  Muslim birthrates were at least double Western birthrates. from www.crises.us/2006/01/index.html

To Teach or Not to Teach I met with Jeff Van Duzer on Monday, March 19th to discuss his plans for my employment.  The upshot was that he only expects me to teach Statistics one more time (Winter 2008) with no other courses on the horizon after this Spring quarter just beginning.  Knowing this is a actually a relief.  While I've come to appreciate my own love for teaching, this frees me to turn my personal energies away from teaching at SPU and toward teaching for the Church.  Where or when that will happen is a complete mystery right now, but there is no lack of need.  I have plans to continue with the men on Saturday morning. We will conclude our study in Exodus in April and then return to the Psalms at Psalm 22.  I hope to start in my favorite letter, Ephesians, in September, and then perhaps one of the gospels. This month I decided to boost my support to the White Horse Inn radio program with a donation of $300. I am captured by the thought that right doctrine unifies rather than divides. Where it seems to divide it is just the separation of wheat and tares.  http://www.whitehorseinn.org/  The four pastor/theologians on this program seem to me to be the clearest voices for God's truth out there today. See also: http://www.modernreformation.org/

Before I Gaze at You Again Before I gaze at you again I'll need a time for tears. Before I gaze at you again Let hours turn to years. I have so much forgetting to do Before I try to gaze again at you. Stay away until you cross my mind Barely once a day. Stay away until I wake and find That I can smile and say: That I shall gaze at you again Without a blush or qualm. My eyes will shine like new again, My manner poised and calm. No sign of fear, Not even a sigh. And so till when We meet again, Goodbye!       Camelot (Reprise) ARTHUR: Each evening, from December to December, Before you drift to sleep upon your cot, Think back on all the tales that you remember Of Camelot. Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story, And tell it strong and clear if he has not, That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory Called Camelot. Camelot! Camelot! Now say it out with pride and joy! TOM: Camelot! Camelot! ARTHUR: Yes, Camelot, my boy! Where once it never rained till after sundown, By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown... Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot For one brief shining moment that was known As Camelot.

Camelot with Michael York as Arthur and Rachel York as Guinevere On Wednesday, March 28, Annie took our family and her friend Kristen Ashpole to see Camelot at The 5th Avenue Theatre.  I had a cassette of the Richard Button / Julie Andrews Broadway performance that I often listened to in college.    I now have the album from my parents which the kids have enjoyed. The musical has always been close to my heart.  I saw the Richard Harris / Vanessa Redgrave movie musical sometime in the early 1970's.  Our seats toward the middle-back of the hall did not afford us the visual feast that was offered, but the well known music and plot had me in tears throughout.  The song (at left) has been a sad favorite that stirs me especially.  And the reprise when the knighted young Tom of Warwick is sent back from the battlefield in France to tell the story... It breaks my heart.  This time, finally, I understood why.  The story has a corollary in history. We are to run with the story of our King and his boundless love for his unfaithful bride. Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot For one brief shining moment that was known As Calvary. Din Lath leaves Cambodia for Thailand The young boy, Din Lath, that we have sponsored for many years in Cambodia through World Vision is now a young man. This month he is leaving the sponsorship program as he leaves Cambodia to find work in Thailand.  His most recent letter alludes to faith in Christ.  This is a marvelous conclusion to many years of child sponsorship.  Years ago, when I picked Din out of the many photos of children from around the world at a local church event, my choice was in part led by my understanding of what my country  had done to Cambodia. The Cambodian Incursion was a military campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia during the late spring and summer of 1970 by the armed forces of the United States (U.S.) ... during the Vietnam Conflict.                                                                — from wikipedia.org. I have always considered our $30 monthly gift for Din and his family and community over the years as a response to one act of gratitude enjoined on us by the Apostles.  "All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."  Galatians 2:10