and a couple more things to say...

1. skyping with Jacob was so great! He is such a cool kid!! And he cracks me up! He showed me the painting that he painted me for my birthday haha...and he had Dara write "Princess Kayla" on it. Which leads me to a funny story...They were watching the Inauguration Ball the other night and Jacob kept saying that Michelle Obama was a beautiful princess. But heres the best part: When they showed a picture of President Obama Jacob said, "Whose that football player?" hahaha... I hope that doesn't offend anyone, its just the sweet innocence of an almost 3 year old!

We also had some other miscommunication: I was telling him about how last night I "broke in" to my friends Nathan, Tito, and Daniel's house to steal a muffin. (the story goes a little something like this, at dinner on Friday night our waitress gave us some extra muffins and the boys kept them, after working out yesterday Hope and I decided we wanted one but the guys werent home and were being shady about giving us one...so I climbed in Tito's window and got our muffin that was rightfully ours...hahaha...i promise i dont usually do such extreme things for food, its just that Mimi's muffins are incredible and the only other time I have had them was in Denver...thats my reasoning) Anyways, back to Jacob, We just so happen to have a cat at home named Muffin and Jacob thought I was talking about her. Dara and I were cracking up as he then proceeded to ask if I had "got Baby too" (thats our other cat) and "why I ate Muffin?" It was great.

2. I started reading Kingdom Come, the book I had mentioned previously, and was surprised how much I agreed theologically with it. I have been given a glimpse, and by glimpse I mean I sure as heck dont know all the answers, nor what I fully believe regarding it, but as I said, I have been given a glimpse into "Inaugurated Eschatology" in my classes and Wakabayashi (the author) clearly explains how the kingdom of God is the "already and the not yet" (which is the basic belief regarding Inaugurated Eschatology that the kingdom of God is already here but also not yet fully here) I really recommend this book already. I'm not that far into it but it seems really great so far.

I may also be partial to the fact that he (Wakabayashi) has already used C.S. Lewis as an example. Anyone who likes C.S. Lewis is a friend of mine. He explained how The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a powerful metaphor of the kingdom of God:



"Four children stumble into a magical land called Narnia. The true king of the land is Aslan, a magnificent lion, the Christ figure. Yet at the time of the story, Narnia is under the rule of the White Witch, who has cursed the land so that it is perpetually in a bitter cold winter with no Christmas. But at one point in the story, Christmas does come as Father Christmas comes, dispensing gifts. Then springtime begins to invade the bitter winter of the White Witch's reign. The snow begins to melt, the trees release their snow covers, flowers bloom and birds chirp. What is going on? Father Christmas explains, "Aslan is on the move! The Witch's magic is weakening!" We come to understand that wherever Aslan draws near, springtime breaks out in the midst of the bitter winter of the White Witch.
This is what the kingdom of God is about. God's reign descends in and through Jesus and is applied in a world that is not yet fully under his authority. Sicknesses are healed, demons are banished, sins are forgiven and people are assured of God's love for them. Wherever God's kingdom comes, his kingship is applied and the evil of darkness is banished. " (Wakabayashi 31)

Woah. That just blew me away. I think I had heard this example used before but the imagery after reading the book, seeing the movie, and seeing the play (my little Allison was the white stag, just felt like I needed to make a plug) it is such an artistic expression of such a complex idea. Whatever your view, Jesus came, dwelt among us, and established his kingdom here on earth, and that is truth.