Another day in Malibu...

For the second time in a month, we were awakened early to evacuate for nearby fires. This time the fires were on "our side" of the campus. As you can see from this photo, the fires were right behind our house. We later learned that these fires were still a mile away, but they looked very close.

We left the house the first time at 5am and came home about 8:30. Then they relocated us again at about noon. We were at the Campus Center until 5pm or so. What a day. The kids loved it, but Michelle and I were exhausted from the emotional stress. Nothing on campus was lost, but nearly 50 homes in Malibu were destroyed.

The fire dept. used the Pepperdine campus as a base for the fire-fighting operation. So all day there were dozens of choppers landing at Alumni Park to refill with water from the two "duck ponds" there. There were also 15-20+ firetrucks on campus most of the day. The constant roar of fixed-wing aircraft filling their tanks with water from the Santa Monica Bay and dropping it overhead was amazing. I hope I have some video footage of it, but Matt was playing with the camcorder so much I may have run out of batteries. :-)

As far as I know everyone is safe and there was no loss of life. Certainly a memorable Thanksgiving weekend.

We just left the house again. This is right behind our house.

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Another fire in Malibu. We're

Another fire in Malibu. We're fine but in the caf. Will post more later.

Birthday photos...

Here are some birthday photos from yesterday's celebrations...

Happy birthday, Marcus!

Today is Tater Tot's 5th Birthday! It's hard to believe my baby boy is already five years old. Today at 3pm we're having a big Transformer party and our whole block is invited for cupcakes and games. Should be fun!

In view of this big day, here are a few links to Marcus' first days of life...

• Day One


• Day Two


• Day Three


• Day Four


• Day Five


• Day Six


• More...

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Illegal filesharing and Universities

Illegal filesharing is a problem. One of the biggest centers for this type of activity is university campuses. My alma mater, Indiana University, recently sent an email to all students alerting them of a new policy. According to a policy going into effect January 1, 2008, any student who is notified by a copyright owner that they have violated copyright policy by downloading illegal content (from sites such as Limewire and Bit Torrent) will be billed $50 to their Bursar bill. I think this is a very interesting development and likely to be followed by many universities around the country. For more info, check out IU's filesharing resource site.

Rediscovering Reinhold Niebuhr

One of my favorite books from seminary was "Christ and Culture" by Richard Niebuhr. This week I've enjoyed an audio program dealing with the current relevance of Richard's brother Reinhold Niebuhr for understanding the role of morality in struggling with the immorality of political realities. While politics is "a good", it is inherently flawed compared to the perfect outcomes of grace. Thus, it is only a relative good and any political choice is not between "good" and "evil", but between "immoral" and "more immoral". I recommend this "Speaking of Faith" program. It's very good...

Moral Man and Immoral Society: Rediscovering Reinhold Niebuhr

Fire Damage

Fire Damage

There's evidence everywhere of the fire damage from a few weeks ago. I keep meaning to bring my camera out and snap some photos of the blackened trees, rocks, and hillside. I hope I do it before it gets washed away.

Here is a photo I took with my mobile phone today. It's a tree by the parking lot at the kid's school. You see this effect on trees all over here right now. If you look closely you'll see the right side of the tree was close to the fire and the heat of the flames killed the leaves. They are still there, but all brown. The left side of the treee was on the far side of the flames and it is still green. Isn't that odd?

Choctoberfest!

Choctoberfest!

Michelle and Liz hosted their first Choctoberfest (props to Cindy Lou Who!). Here's a great photo of it.
While men weren't invited, I heard it was fun for all!