I find some humor in the fact that Lovie Smith can, if he wants to, tease Tony Dungie about being the second black head coach to lead a team to the Super Bowl only because Lovie’s team played and won about three hours earlier.
Congrats to them both!
Yesterday we booked our trip to Vietnam. We will be gone from March 10-17. I plan on taking my laptop and blogging as we go – can’t wait to make my first international post with plenty of pictures.
Why are we going?Â
My mother is from Vietnam, and we plan on spreading her remaining ashes back in her homeland. But I also think this will be some kind of spiritual journey for me – almost like Alex Haley going back to Africa in the miniseries Roots: The Next Generation. I wonder how many of you know what scene I’m talking about?
Growing up, I was never proud, almost at times embarrassed about my cultural background. I guess it would be a combination of people making fun of my race, not fitting in, and the Vietnam War. Heck, for the longest time I thought to be American you had to be white just like my father. However, as I have matured and learned the true definition of an American, I also learned to embrace my heritage and take comfort that God made me this way for a reason – that I’m not a mistake as I sometimes heard.
Originally I was scared to death to go on this trip, but know I’m looking forward to this adventure. The thought of flying over the ocean for such a long time, being in a communist country in a land where I don’t understand the language, being away from DogGeeding and HDTV and TIVO, not to mention the water and food was all intimidating factors. But now, I think it’s time to live life and embrace it. Time for me to open up my heart and let God do his work. If something happens, it happens. My only regret is that Mom won’t be there to tell me everything from her perspective.
The above picture was taken at the Vietnamese travel agency we used to book our tickets. It cracked me up and warmed my heart at the same time. As you know, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City when the communist took over; yet many many many Vietnamese still refer to it as Saigon.
We will be flying Korean Air to Seoul (14 hours), then to Saigon (4 hours). From Saigon we will be taking a 2 1/2 car mile drive to My Tho (pronounced “me tah”), that’s where the family I’ve only seen in pictures live. I was told the drive takes so long because they can only travel at 30 mph. Anything over and the police start to shoot to reinforce the speed limit. Yup, that’s a bit of culture shock and another reason why I’m thankful to be living in freedom.
DALLAS – A group of Southern Baptists are divided over a seminary’s decision to dismiss a female faculty member because officials there believe women should not be allowed to teach men in theology programs.
Sheri Klouda received her doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and was hired for a tenure-track position in 2002 teaching Hebrew in the theology school. But in 2004, she was told she would not get tenure and should look for another job, a series of events confirmed by Van McClain, chairman of the Southwestern trustees.
Southwestern is taking the “traditional, confessional and biblical position” that women should not teach men in theology or biblical languages, McClain said. That position is based on a Biblical verse in which the Apostle Paul says, “I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man.”
Klouda’s hiring, McClain said, was a “momentary lax of the parameters” of the seminary.
Klouda said she was told her contract would not be renewed because she is a woman. She is now a professor at Taylor University in Indiana.