That's right, it's back! The blog I post on every few years when I want to write something longform. Don't worry though, this time it's not a traumatic personal story or a rant about politics, it's just a cool thing I discovered that I want to share. Alright, story time! Back in the late-1800s, there was a big controversy in the Anglican Church. The Bishop of Natal, John Colenso, published a series of treatises about some of his heterodox theological views. Because of those views (Universalism, Questioning the authenticity/inerrancy of scripture, polygamy), the other South African bishops attempted to depose him. Colenso appealed his case to the Privy council in London, who ruled that the other bishops had no jurisdiction to interfere with him. This whole thing was a scandal, and prompted many responses to Colenso. One of these respones came from a parish priest, Samuel John Stone. Stone wrote a book called Lyra Fidellium, which was a collection of hymns based on th...
The Surprise It was 8:45 AM on Thursday, December 19th. I was just getting ready to start work, when I heard Sara call down the hall, “Hey Xan, can you come here for a minute?” I walked back to our bedroom and she said “I think my water just broke.” Now, this was quite a surprise, since Sara’s due date was January 23rd. After a quick call to the OB, they confirmed “Yes, if you think your water broke, you need to go to the ER.” So now we had a decision to make. Sara and I had talked to several OB/GYNs at the beginning of this year, and had finally found this one that Sara was comfortable with. The only problem was that while their practice was in-network for our insurance, they delivered at UNC Rex Hospital, which was not in-network. No worries, we thought, Sara isn’t due until January. We get insurance through the marketplace, and when we re-up for 2025, we’ll make sure we pick a plan where UNC Rex is in-network. A flawless plan. Well, now Sara’s water has broken, and it’s not 2025 yet...