Craig's Third Recipe - Chili

I finally got around to writing down how I make chili. It's 100% our recipe and it's what we really enjoy just about any day. Probably makes about a gallon, maybe more, of chili. It's in the Recipes Section and also linked below for your convenience. Hope you like it…

Craig's Chili Recipe (53KB)

Our Third 10K Race

We just finished our third 10K race this morning in Utah. I was worried the altitude (~4500ft) and dryness of the air would be a concern but it turned out not to be.

I ran a good time: 54:04 and Min-Ah ran a really good time: 56:16. The flatness of the course had to help us out as the Burke Lake 10K in Virginia was hilly. Glad that's over but we need to sign up for another 10K to keep us motivated.

Is Marriage about Love?

The controversy about same-sex marriage churns principally around the definition of marriage.  Activists deny the traditional view that marriage is about children.  instead, marriage is an ever-changing, socially-constructed institution constantly being redefined by society.  There is no essential connection with children.  Rather, at the core of the enterprise are two people in love.

Understandably, love is a predominant theme in discussions about marriage.  “As long as people love each other,” one person asserted, “it shouldn’t matter whether they are the same sex. What’s important in marriage is love.”
Initially, this seems hard to deny.  In our culture, love is often the immediate motivation for marriage.  On reflection, though, it’s clear that love and marriage don’t always go together.  In fact, they seldom do.

If marriage were about love, then billions of people in the history of the world who thought they were married were not.  Most marriages have been arranged.  Love may percolate later, but only as a result of marriage, not the reason for it.

Further, if love were the sine qua non of marriage, no “for better or for worse” promises would be needed at the altar.  Vows aren’t meant to sustain love; they are meant to sustain the union when love wanes. A pledge keeps a family intact not for love, but for the sake of children.

The state doesn’t care if the bride and groom love each other.  There are no questions about a couple’s affections when granting a license.  No proof of passion is required.  Why?  Because marriage isn’t about love.  Ask any married person.  It’s about a commitment that is supposed to deliver stability for families.  That’s what society is really interested in because that’s what ensures the continuation of a society.

Since, love may be the reason some people get married, but it isn’t the reason for marriage. It may be a constituent of marriage, but it isn’t the purpose of marriage.  Something else is.

Koukl, G. (2013, April 9). Is Marriage About Love? Stand to Reason. Retrieved February 8, 2014, from http://www.str.org/quickthoughts/is-marriage-about-love#.UvaVN15n_J8

Seattle Seahawks, Superbowl XLVIII Champs After 38 Years Trying

I great up watching the Seattle Seahawks struggle in the 1970’s…lots of trick plays and not much else. Good thing they had a great kicker and Steve Largent. Happy to see Seattle finally win one, they really deserve it and I’m happy for them.

Great Billy Graham Story

I was reading some of the Billy Graham’s writings and came across this funny story I think is very insightful:

The great Swiss theologian, Dr. Karl Barth, was probably in his generation the greatest theologian in the world, and a great philosopher as well. I did not always agree with him, but he was my friend and I respected him. While he was in this country, a student at one of the seminaries said, “Dr. Barth, what is the greatest truth that ever crossed your mind?” All the seminary students were sitting on the edge of their seats to hear some great, profound, deep, complicated answer. Dr. Barth slowly raised his great shaggy gray head and looked at the student and said, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Billy Graham

Ten Great Quotes

Ran into a few quotes I liked so I thought I’d post them here:

1. "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Friedrich Nietzsche
2. "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance." Samuel Johnson
3. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." William Shakespear
4. "When it’s darkest, men see the stars." Ralph Waldo Emerson
5. "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom." General George S. Patton
6. "When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water." Benjamin Franklin
7. "A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind." John Neal
8. "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." Unknown
9. "He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity." Ben Jonson
10. "Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well." Jack London

Source: Peterson, J. (2013, September 7). 10 Quotes all Entrepreneurs Should Memorize. Retrieved September 7, 2013, from LinkedIn.

Tira's First Swim

The other day we took Tira to Bear Lake in northern Utah. This is her first time swimming and she loved it. It’s finny how her bottom was floating around before she started dog paddling.

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