I went and stayed in a beach house this weekend. Had a really good time. Spent Saturday on the beach, then on Sunday we went to church, then I drove down the Hatteras National Seashore a bit, then went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. On Monday (yesterday) we hung out on the beach again, then came back last night.



You can see my photos here: Duck Beach 2007 photos

Tomorrow after work I'm going to the Outer Banks of Carolina.



I was lucky enough to get a spot in a big house with a couple dozen people from church -- both from here in Raleigh and from other places in the east... Washington, DC, I think. I'll be there until Monday night.

My agenda includes a few items:

1. Take stack of books and read them all.
2. Sit on beach and relax.
3. Drive to Kill Devil Hills and see whatever Wright Brothers-related monuments are there.
4. Drive to Cape Hatteras

I'll be sure to take pictures.

Buy my fridge! http://raleigh.craigslist.org/hsh/332472577.html
SOLD!

Buy my washer and dryer! http://raleigh.craigslist.org/hsh/332490397.html SOLD!

The fridge, washer, and dryer are all gone.

I went to Boston on Friday and Saturday. It was a good trip. The main reason was to go to a Red Sox game. I'm a die-hard Dodgers fan, but as a general baseball fan I've always wanted to go to Fenway Park. Sunni and Janelle were going up to see friends, and they planned on going to a Sox game, and after I mentioned that I would love to go to a game there, they were gracious enough to allow me to join them on their trip for a couple of days. We also did some shoe shopping, ate some good Indian food, and went for a nice drive on Saturday out to Concord to see a bit of American and literary history. Pictures are in my Picasa album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/boisvert/2007MayBoston

She then proceeds to say she's an evangelical Christian and that she's been studying with the Elders. She says that she has two major doubts about our church, then she shares them. I won't share what they were, because it's inconsequential. Both of them were common doubts about validity of certain claims made by Joseph Smith. Anyhow, she then said "I need these questions answered before it can be proven to me that your church is the true church of Christ."

It's had me thinking since then, to be honest. The fact is that there simply isn't room for "proof" in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds a testimony on proof is misguided. Proof can be used as an addition to faith (in other words, it must be built on TOP of faith, not underneath it), but on its own it'll never be enough to convince someone to give their heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Not only that, but how can any of the things in the Bible be proven? How can it be proven that Christ really resurrected, when every piece of science we have indicates that such a thing is impossible? Why are limitations placed on some things by evangelical Christians when other unproveable acts are taken purely at face value?

and today he took another step toward achieving that goal.

I live close to a prison. The North Carolina Central Prison. If I go down Snow Ave one block, then cross the railroad tracks, I'm at the prison. It's really close. The entrance is down on Western Blvd., so I'd have to go down Boylan Ave. on the east or Ashe Ave. on the west to get there, but it's still interesting to be that close to it.



Here's a link to the Prison's web site: http://www.doc.state.nc.us/DOP/prisons/Central.htm