What I've Been Up To

I have neglected this blog. I haven’t posted anything here except the Sunday hymns for a long while.

I do have a good excuse: I was writing a book. The Good Portion: God is on the doctrine of God—who he is and what he has done. I hope readers will see God’s perfection, worth, magnificence, and beauty as they explore what Scripture teaches about him.

The Good Portion: God is the second book in Christian Focus’s The Good Portion series, a series written specifically for women to encourage them to immerse themselves in the depths of Christian doctrine. The series aims to “spur women on to relish the truths of the Christian faith as they do what they were created for—enjoy knowing God.”

You can find out more about the series here, and more about my book here.

Below are a few endorsements:

This is an outstanding and accessible treatment of the attributes of God. I hope it will reach a wide readership and stimulate an interest in exploring the depths of the Christian faith.

Robert Letham, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Union School of Theology, Wales

Aiming to reveal God in all His glory, this in–depth volume (and series) is a rare find amongst the plethora of publications available for ministry to women. 

Margaret Kostenberger, Associate Professor of Theology and Director of Women’s Programs and Mentoring at Shepherds Theological Seminary in Cary, North Carolina

For many years Rebecca Stark has been one of my favorite bloggers. I’m thrilled to see her now extend her voice to books in this brilliant little volume on the attributes of our great God. It aptly displays so much of what I enjoy about her writing: it is theologically astute, devotionally inspiring, and powerfully written. I highly recommend it. 

Tim Challies, Founding blogger of Challies.com, and author of several books 

We can easily say, ‘Lord, I want to see your glory,’ but the way we see His glory is through an understanding of what He is like, which is the focus of Rebecca Stark’s book, and should be the focus of every Christian’s life. With the help of the Holy Spirit, understanding who God is and what He is like is the secret to growing in Christlikeness. I’m so excited to have The Good Portion: The Doctrine of God for Every Woman to teach me and others to how to meditate on God. This book is going to be an excellent discipling tool. 

Arlette Mbugua, Wife of Kenneth Mbugua, senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Nairobi, Kenya 

We don’t need a feminine doctrine of God, and Rebecca Stark does not give us one. She presents to us a robust introduction into theology that will lead the reader to adore, delight in, and praise God for who He is and what He has done. I’m glad to see Christian Focus call women to better theology. Stark doesn’t give us a theology for women, but a woman’s voice directing us all to the glory of God. 

Aimee Byrd, Author of Housewife Theologian, Theological Fitness, and No Little Women

Would you like to read an excerpt? Here’s a bit from the chapter on God’s goodness: God Is Good.

Writing a book was a whole lot of work, but so much fun, too. Still, I miss blogging, and I hope to be back to regular posting here soon, starting with a Theological Term post. Two people have independently contacted me recently to complain that I am missing one very important theological term, so I’ll start with it. You’ll be surprised which term it is.

Update on the Yukon Quest

This 100o mile dog sled race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse will probably end some time after midnight tonight. The two leaders, Lance Mackey and Ken Anderson, will leave Braeburn for Whitehorse this afternoon.

Update on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 9:48AM by rebecca

Lance Mackey and Ken Anderson both crossed the finish line overnight, 15 minutes apart. Mackey was first, winning $35,000, and Anderson came in second to win $25,000. From the latest news release on the Yukon Quest website:

As the bobbing light of a headlamp came around the corner on First Avenue in Whitehorse approaching the Yukon Quest Finish Chute, the enthusiastic crowd of almost five hundred well wishers held their breath – was it Lance? Was it Ken?

Earlier this afternoon, Lance Mackey had left the last Checkpoint in Braeburn 19 minutes before rival Ken Anderson and reports along the trail to Whitehorse had placed the two mushers eight minutes apart at one stage. 

This is Lance Mackey’s fourth Yukon Quest win in a row. Both Mackey and Anderson will be running in the Iditerod as well, which means they have about 10 days to rest their teams and then they’ll be off long distance racing again. 

Do Not Dance With Them!

North America  has it’s first documented case of  a healthy wolf killing a human in the wild.

A coroner’s jury in Saskatchewan has determined that Ontario university student Kenton Carnegie was killed in a wolf attack.

Carnegie was 22 when he died in November 2005 near Points North Landing, Sask. On a work term for a company at the mining exploration camp, located about 750 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, Carnegie went for a walk and didn’t come back.

Searchers later found his body surrounded by wolves.

Not that the findings are undisputed. One expert witness, Paul Paquet, testified that it is more likely that it was a black bear that killed Carnegie. However, he did not rule out the possiblity that it was a wolf attack.

Mark McNay, recently retired as head of the research department at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (who happens to be my cousin, and with whom I visited in September when he flew through Whitehorse on his way south), testified that he was convinced that it was indeed a wolf attack. He argued that bears would have been in hibernation at the time Carnegie was killed, and that no bears had been seen in the area for several weeks before the attack, nor were any seen for months after.

In photographs of the site, what Paquet identified as bear tracks were actually wolf tracks, said McNay. The tracks were on the lake’s surface, which had not completely frozen over. When the wolf stepped into the ground and broke through to water, the water came up and made the track larger, leading people to believe it was bear tracks.

McNay said it was also unlikely that two wolves would have eaten the same hair from the dump on the same day Carnegie was killed.

As for the argument that wolves don’t attack humans, McNay said that is not the case anymore because wolves are becoming habitualized and losing their fear of people.

These incidents of wolves and people, predictably, are going to increase,” he said. 

So if you’ve been been told that wolves in the wild in the wild never behave aggressively toward human beings, you might want to file that thought under urban myths, and I use the word urban deliberately.

 
Sources: OHS Canada, CBC News

You’ll find more info on agressive and nonagressive wolf-human encounters in this case history (pdf) done for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game by Mark McNay.