Wedding Photos

Weddings are grand. I've finally posted photos on my online Picasa album. There were 365 photos total, and there are still photo's that others took. I tried to pick the best ones out. Hope you enjoy.

Here's one to wet your appetite:


http://picasaweb.google.com/joshualperkins/Wedding

I can say this because I live in Bahrain

I like politics, and I enjoy following everything that's going on. Blah blah blah don't know who I'm voting for blah blah blah no good choices blah blah blah.

Anyway, I came across statements by both McCain and Obama regarding energy and gas prices. Both talk about wanting to lower gas prices (through different methods), but they also want to encourage alternative energy sources.

But here's the reality - HIGH GAS PRICES ARE GREAT.

Its all economics. The higher the price for a good, the more likely people are to find something else cheaper to replace that good. For instance, if I like McDonalds, but they raise their prices to $10 for a meal, I will find a replacement. Burger King. Price has gone up, and I have an incentive to spend less money - for relatively the same benefit - elsewhere.

If gas prices go up, people will want to spend less and less on gas. Demand for eco-friendly cars and other eco-friendly energy solutions will rise, asssuming that the rise in demand doesn't make these products more expensive than paying for gas. Companies, motivated by profit (not - as much as we would love it to be true - motivated by good stewardship or good will), will produce products that bring them the most profit. In this case, eco-friendly vehicles (hybrids, electric cars, etc). Thus, the environment is saved.

So I say - BRING ON THE HIGH GAS PRICES.

But I can say that because I live in Bahrain. I pay less than a dollar a gallon - government subsidized gas.

My car gets 13 miles to the gallon and I don't even bat an eye.

Good Bye America, Hello Bahrain!

In less than 4 hours, I will be at the airport with my beautiful wife (see picture below to be amazed at her beauty) waiting to fly from Houston to DC to Kuwait to Bahrain. See you on the flip side!

Reflections on One Week of Marriage and Other Thoughts.

Today is our 10 day anniversary!

Also, my wife1 hogs the bed. She wakes up in the middle night telling me to scoot over because she doesn’t have enough room. This may be true. I guess I shouldn’t be blaming my wife. Rather, I should be blaming that pesky pillow that she puts on the other side of her who selfishly takes up 1/3 of the bed, leaving me about half a butt-cheeks worth of room and my leg hanging off the side. Curse those pillows (you need to say “curse those pillows” with the same voice as Christian Bale’s ‘batman’).

Ok, so as my wife sits next to me as I type this and gives the standard “I’m laughing but embarrassed” laugh that I have seen in so many other wives, I am less thinking about that absurd pillow and more about the fact that I have consistently referred to my wife as “my wife.” It’s such a weird thing.

We are currently sitting in the Detroit airport and the lady at the check-in desk asked for volunteers to change flights – new flight along with a voucher for another flight.

I went up to check out the options, and the lady said they only needed one more volunteer. Of course, I told her I didn’t want to travel without “my wife.” There it was again. I seem to be using it a lot. Don’t get me wrong. I really love saying it. There’s a certain finality to saying “my wife” that I enjoy. Not a “doomed” finality, but rather a certain sense of solidity and commitment, and a certain maturity to it that “girlfriend” or even “fiancé” doesn’t quite attain.

My wife, though, does other things than just use pillows as cuddling tools at night (I’m not as soft as a pillow, but I’m working on it. Cheese dinner, anyone?)

As we sit in the airport, she’s currently reading “Sacred Marriage”, a book given to us as a wedding gift. The tagline is “What if marriage is designed to make us holy rather than make us happy.” I’m excited to read it.

While she was reading that, I had my own reading material. I had cracked open C.S. Lewis’ “Pilgrims Regress.”2 Apparently it’s one of the first books, though I’ve liked it. It’s an unabashed allegory, and the main character “John” leaves home to explore outside his homeland. The first man he comes to is Mr. Enlightenment. Mr. Enlightenment tells John that there is no Landlord (allegorical character for God) and that the Landlord is a creation of the Stewards (priests). Mr. Enlightenment goes onto say that all the scientific revelations have proved that there is no Landlord and that anthropologists have determined that all these stories of various rulers are traceable to legends that are perfectly explainable.

Interestingly enough, this connects to another book that I finished last night: “The Physics of Star Trek”3. I love star trek, which comes from growing up in a house where good science fiction (and sometimes bad) is held with due respect. In the book, there are two different paragraphs which I’m going to quote below.

”However, a quantum theory of strings cannot be made mathematically consistent in 4 dimensions, or 5, or even 6. It turns out that such theories can exist consistently only in 10 dimensions, or perhaps only in 26!”(pg 146)

It doesn’t matter what “a quantum theory of strings” are – I really don’t understand it. The important part is that we live in a 4 dimensional world (space/time) and we cannot imagine anything beyond that. Yet, the only way that this physics concept works is in a world of more dimensions than we understand.

And a few pages later, the author continues – though speaking on a different topic.

“If we insist on interpreting quantum mechanical phenomena in terms of classical (generally understood) concepts, we will inevitably encounter phenomena that seem paradoxical, or impossible. This is as it should be. Classical mechanics cannot account properly for quantum mechanical phenomena, and so there is no reason that classical descriptions should make sense.” (149)

The point is this: science seems to accept the fact that there are things which exist in realities beyond our own understanding. Interesting.

When I had read the 2^nd paragraph, I started thinking about the connection between the two paragraphs. If science finds paradoxes and impossibilities plausible in science, cannot we also say the same thing about Christianity? There are two specific applications that I have thought of, the first generally acceptable to all believers.

1) The Trinity: How can three be one? How can Jesus be both fully man and fully God? Is it possible that, because lives in more dimensions than ours or even outside of dimensions, that all these things can be true at once? Is it realistic and good theology to accept the mystery and not need to attempt to explain? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t think about the character and nature of God or that questions shouldn’t be wrestled with. What I am saying is that the apparent contradiction may only be a contradiction because we live experiencing and sensing only a limited part of what is readily and creation - 4 dimensions rather than the whole of dimensions.

2) God’s sovereignty: How can we be under the sovereign power of God and yet have freedom to choose and be held accountable for our sin (see Romans 8-9)? I remember John Piper accepting both propositions as true, though they are contradictory. However, both are biblical truths. Though I accept both as true because both are stated in Scripture, the idea is supported by the physics argument that some things are currently beyond our understanding due to our own limited existence and nature.

These thoughts were confirmed by my physics-savy wife, who holds a BS in physics and a minor in Math from a prestigious physics university. In fact, she went on to say that the same argument has been made before by others.

In one breath I had been both validated and invalidated (though she meant it as an encouragement of my cogitations – she’s great for conversation). On the one hand, I thought of something that another smart person thought of. On the other hand, someone had thought of it first.

I am consoled by the fact that there is “nothing new under the sun.” So I guess no one has any original thoughts.

1. My wife: Mrs. Alison Perkins aka “the beautiful”

2. Lewis, C.S., "Pilgrims Regress." London. J. M. Dent and Sons, 1933.

3. Krauss, Laurence M., The Physics of Star Trek. New York. HarperPerennial, 1995.

What have I been doing!?!?!? And Almost Married

My friends, egagement is almost over. Finally. freaking Finally. Engagement has been fun, but every good thing comes to an end. Praise the Lord. However, we've done TONS of cool things this summer as an engaged couple. Here is a sprinkling of what we've been up to this summer:

-watched the tv show "Scrubs." Pretty hilarious

-read a book all about the history of the church as well as about Christianity in China

-met ALL of Alison's great friends and family all over michigan.

In fact, we are currently sitting at a coffee shop with some friends from college. "You are typing your blog while 'talking' to them?'" you might be asking. Why yes, yes I am. In fact, my best man, Ryan Lang is currently sitting next to me doing the exact same thing. Do I feel bad? A little bit.

Other things we've done:

-visited Alison's grandmothers cherry/pear/apple/plum/peach farm. We got this huge crate of cherries that we finished. Let me tell you - cherries directly from the tree are FLIPPING AMAZING.

-celebrated American Independence day on July 4th at a freaking packed boardwalk area. (see previous blog about my thoughts on celebrating American Independence)

-met my friend Katie half way between Alison's house and Chicago.

-started planning a wedding about 2 1/2 weeks before the wedding was actually to start. No problems (though mostly due to all the great people who've helped us out - like Alison's sister-in-law, her mother, my mother)

-met with a financial adviser who told us how we should spend our money.

-sitting with my best man - Ryan Lang - at a coffee shop, who is helping me ignore Alison's friends. Sorry to the two of you if you ever read this. I really am not as rude as I currently look.

-visited all of the churches that Alison has gone to

-went to Cedar Point theme park with Alison's brother's bachelor party. Fortunately, didn't get sick.

-played cards with my parents (in which my dad and I gloriously defeated my mom and alison)

-played scrabble with alison (in which I won)

I'm sure there's a myriad of other things, but I can't remember that now, and I feel like I should return to the conversation that I've never really been a part of.

For now, I'm just semi-enjoying my last few days of engagement.

Being married will be way better.