Because we are celebrating our Thanksgiving this coming Sunday with friends from Ponferrada, on Thanksgiving Thursday we took off to visit a village in the northwest of El Bierzo. When we got there we realized we would get to play in the snow!
The average classical author has zero manuscripts extant today produced within half a millennium of the composition of his writings. The New Testament has at least two hundred fifty manuscripts—in Greek alone—produced within five hundred years after the composition of the New Testament.
– Daniel B. Wallace
As soon as I entered the apartment, I went straight to the bookcase and retrieved my old Quran and my study Bible. I sat down on the couch and opened the Quran first. I flipped through the pages, looking for verses of comfort, at first carefully reading each page for the subject matter, then more quickly thumbing through the index, and then frantically flipping from page to page, hoping for something, anything, that would comfort me.
There was nothing there for me. It depicted a god of conditional concern, one who would not love me if I did not perform to my utmost in pleasing him, one who seemed to take joy in sending his enemies into the hellfire. It did not speak to the broken nature of man, let alone directly to the broken man in need of God’s love. It was a book of laws, written for the seventh century.
Looking for a living word, I put the Quran down and picked up the Bible…Within minutes, I found these words: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
(Qureshi, Nabeel; Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Kindle 4217)
Leon is the name of our province, where we live. While my parents were here we were able to see some sites in the capital city, Leon as well as Molinaseca, Ponferrada, Peñalba, and Villafranca. Here are some pictures. For more, click here.
Most events in life can be categorized in one of two ways: A good time, or a good story.
Faith isn’t psychological self-hypnosis or wishful thinking, but a reasoned response to revealed truth.
The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from our lives, but to trust our sovereign, wise, good, and powerful God in the midst of every situation.
– Macarthur, Anxious for Nothing
“…el éxito del viaje esta en ‘descubrir lo pequeño, hablar con el paisano que aparece en el camino y a quien la mayor parte de la gente no da ni los buenos días…salir a perder el tiempo; ese ha de ser el espíritu del explorador.'”
Miguel “Yuma” García, El Bierzo: Leyendas, Pueblos, y Paisajes
