John Rapacz

Please pray for my cousin John who has been in Iraq. His Hum-V was hit by a roadside bomb. It was acting as scout vehicle for a convoy. From what I've heard, he recieved shrapnel wounds to his upper legs, and shrapnel cuts/scratches on his face. The other two marines in the humvee were seriously wounded. One almost had his leg blown off, and the other had shrapnel in his eye. They were evacuated to Germany, and will go home. John has been with them for the last several months, 24/7, so they were like family. The hummer did have the steel reinforcement on its bottom. Michael (his brother) said that John said he couldn't believe it when he saw 3/4" solid steel bent and twisted. But that probably saved their lives.

Easter

Christ has risen!

We spend Easter weekend in Lompnieu, and went to Saint Peters in Geneva for worship on Sunday. It was amazing to be in that historical church, where Calvin preached for 25 years, to hear the scriptures read, and sing out of the original Genevean Psalter! But then the sermon came, and it was one of the most liberal sermons I've ever heard. The gospel was not preached. It was really sad, especially considereing where we were. He mentioned Calvin at one point, but basically said, "I don't agree with everything he said, but there are a few things we can take from him". I couldn't help but feel that he had no business being there!

Bordeaux

We just got back from Bordeaux. The ride down was gorgeous! It's amazing how much variety there is in the French countryside within so short a distance. It's kind of like all the different landscapes you have in the U.S. packed into the size of Texas. We really saw this phenomena going down to Bordeaux. The countryside is very rocky, and reminds me of pictures I've seen of Scotland. They raise a lot of sheep, and make Roquefort cheese with the milk. Roquefort and this other kind of cheese that was really good (but I forget the name), are their two specialty cheeses. Both are made from sheeps' milk. I feel tempted to go on about the cheese after reading the latest Credenda Agenda (great magazine by the way), but I guess I will stop here. :)


We arrived in Bordeaux and stayed with my Uncle and his family. My father and my uncle have several things in common besides having the same last name. They are both pastors, they both married an American wife (and speak English as well), and they are both church planters in France:) The big outing we did was to go to the "Dune du Pyla", the highest sand dune in Europe. It is 117 meters high, and is composed of soft, white, fine sand. We had a ball running up, and it was even more fun running down! On the way up, you basically had to take two steps to go the length of one real step. It was a wierd feeling! The view of the Atlantic ocean from the top was amazing, even though it was somewhat hazy. Coming down that dune was of course the most fun! It felt as though you where running down the side of a cloud, if that makes any sense.


We went on another outing as well; we drove to St. Emilion. St. Emilion is a cute, picturesque, very old town with impresive architecture. We arrived a little late in the day, but still had time to go to one of the wine shops, and taste some of their wines, and but a couple bottles. In an earlier post, I mentioned Haut Brion wine. Well, I saw the real Chateau Haut Brion wines here. The prices ranged from 350 euros (year 2000) to 1448 Euros (1961) There was also the real Chateau Margaux, year 2000 selling at 490 Euros. You wouldn't want to spill a glass of one of these wines!

Three Good Bottles of Wine

I just acquired 3 fairly nice bottles of wine to add to my collection. Auchan is having their "Foire au vin", so I took advantage of that to buy a few while they had a large selection. The first one is "Château Haut-Maurac" 2001 which is a Cru Bourgeois from the Médoc region. It has the 2003 silver medal from the "Concours Mondial Bruxelles". The second is a "Château Larrivet Haut Brion" 2002. I was hoping it was one of the Château Haut-Brion wines, or similar, but it seems to be somewhat of a lesser wine than that one. The real Château Haut-Brion wines cost over 150 Euros anyway! The third bottle is a "Château Labégorce Margaux" 2002. The French Magazine, Le Point had this to say about the Château Labégorce's 2002 vintage: "Mild spices, white flowers, black-currant, bilberry. No dazzling woodiness, but a sumptuous fruitiness supported by a compact tannic background. Very long in the mouth and extremely elegant. This wine would hold its own if placed amid the crus classés." (source)

Orchestre Nationale de Lyon

We attended a concert from the Orchestre National de Lyon last night, directed by Jun Märkl. The music was by Haydn, Sains-Saëns, and Bartók. The first violinist was a girl named Julia Fischer, (only 21) who has been playing in Europe, Japan, and the US. She started playing at only four years old! She was playing on a Stradivarius from 1716 called "le Booth". It was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunantly, we missed the first part because we had gotten stuck in traffic, but we were there for the next two parts, which I think were the best anyway.

Stress Test

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. The attached photo has 2 almost identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress level at St. Mary's Hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study of a group revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical; a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. If there are many differences found between both dolphins, it means that the person is experiencing a great amount of stress. Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may want to take a vacation.

View the photo and take the test


Source: Alex Barendregt's Blog

Florida Trip

Well, here are (at long last) some pictures from our Florida trip. They are kind of in random order because I don't have time to make a fancy web page right now. http://www.lyonministries.com/daniel/fl/

our Disney pictures are on a seperate page at http://www.lyonministries.com/disney/