The life and times of . . . well me.

Mitt Romney Is . . .

2012-01-24T00:39:00.000-06:00

After Mitt Romney released his 2010 and 2011 Tax returns I couldn't resist doing a little digging to see where that puts him. Apparently a worth of over $30 million puts him in the top 0.007% in the US. His taxes alone are more than 99.966% of people in the US make in a year.

Mitt is the 0.007%

The Free Market and Communication

2011-10-19T11:59:00.001-05:00

What if the idealized free market is impossible in the modern world? This thought occurred to me while watching the Daily Show talking about the Occupy Wall Street crowd. I'm not sure about all my conclusions, so correct me if (when) I'm wrong.

So, the ideal free market says that good businesses will be rewarded for being good and bad businesses will be punished for being bad. The businesses that take care of their customers, provide a high quality product, care for their employees and keep costs down, will inevitably rise to the top since customers and employees will gravitate toward them. The businesses that are rude to customers, sell low-quality goods, abuse their employees and charge too much for their products will be put out of business because customers and employees well abjure them.

The key to this, however, is communication. The customers and employees must know all of the facts for the free market model to work. Without the free-flow of information about how customers are treated, employees are treated and the quality of the work, customers and employees can't adequately exercise their free market power. What should be a decision based on myriad factors is reduced to a decision based on one or two. The most common of which are price and availability.

Communication is limited, partly, by the secrecy of corporations. There are secrets that they must keep to protect their intellectual property. And there are secrets that they keep just to obscure what's actually going on inside the company. It might be to prevent stockholder panic or any number of reasons. There are many things that companies don't have to disclose, and so they don't.

The other major limit to communication about the aspects of the companies in the market is the global span of thousands of companies. We just don't have the time and resources to understand all of the companies that are involved in what we consume on a daily basis. The computer on which I'm typing this has components from hundreds of companies that were sourced at the cheapest price and assembled under one brand, but I can't hope to know the practices of all the individual companies that contributed to my laptop.

The ideal of the free market was possible in the small town of Adam Smith's 18th century. The global village of the 21st century, however, makes it impossible for the free market to function as it was intended.

What do you think? How am I wrong?

Becoming a Writer has Caused Me to Write Less . . . Here

2011-04-19T10:40:00.000-05:00

I've recently become a professional writer. Well, a professional article writer for a website, at least. I find myself writing between 2,000 and 4,000 words a day for work. That drastically reduces my desire for writing other things, for some strange reason.

I love writing, though. I love seeing my words come to life with purpose and meaning (and a paycheck doesn't hurt much). I'm going to keep writing and keep working to see what comes of this new-found career path. I'm working on some humor writing, some bible study writing and some ghost blogging, all in addition to the for-pay writing I'm doing for work. I also have dreams of writing some different articles and books at some point in the future. The more I write, the more I want to write which is good. But it means that there's less time to go around for all the projects that I want to be working on.

First Fruit, Next The World

2010-12-05T14:07:00.000-06:00

A Japanese robot has been designed that can select and pick the ripest strawberries automatically. I have been called the "Robot Defender" but since my cries have fallen on deaf ears I had despaired of ever raising the awareness of our coming demise.

Our only hope is to implant our current strawberry pickers with cyborg implants to give them the edge they need to stave off the machines.

Oft Neglected, Ne'er Forgot

2010-02-16T15:47:00.000-06:00

I have absolutely no idea what the image to the right has to do with anything, but it came up when I searched Google using the title of this blog.

I haven't been here much lately because I've been off telling people how to use PowerPoint and how to be married. I've also found that Facebook takes a lot of my blogging ideas and sucks them away. It's not often that I really need to write more than just a few words on any of my thoughts.

I am thinking a lot about how the internet changes us. We are thinking differently than we did even a decade ago. Our brains are adapting to the flow of information and the way we process and share information is being forced to change.

Some people descry this change as being bad or a passing fad, others embrace it wholly and want to discard the old way of doing things. What if there's a different way? What if we accept the changes that are occurring, but we choose to make them? What if we peer ahead into the future and we chart a course of our own?

Or am I just crazy?

How Twighlight Should Have Ended

2009-11-20T16:37:00.002-06:00

Sorry about posting twice in one day, but this is just too good. How Twilight should have ended:

LHC, Higgs Bosun, and Fried Turkey

2009-11-20T14:11:00.003-06:00

The CERN Large Hadron Colider (LHC) is getting ready to start up again after a malfunction caused them to shut down for a year for repairs. The reactor has also been delayed because one of the scientists had terrorist ties and most recently a piece of bread was dropped into some machinery. This has given rise to the theory that the "god particle" or future scientists are reaching back through time to try and stop the LHC from coming online.

The Higgs Bosun particle has been dubbed the "god particle" since proving its existence would go a long way toward explaining the conditions at the beginning of our universe.

In related news - other things that seem to be prone to disaster by future meddlers: fried turkeys. More houses are going to burn down this year due to turkey fries. If you're going to fry a turkey, be safe, and don't try to smash any atoms while you do it.

Mercury Falls

2009-11-15T23:10:00.004-06:00

Too often I find that "humorous" books are bland and boring. They try too hard to make themselves easily accessible, understandable, and unoffensive. Luckily Rob Kroese is not afflicted by that desire. Perhaps it's due to the fact that his humor was honed on his blog: Mattress Police - which is one of the funniest blogs online.

Kroese writes about the end of the world due to the Apocalypse. Mercury is an angel who is supposed to play a key role in the destruction of Earth, but he would rather play ping-pong and build snowmen in Berkley. Christine is a reporter who has sold out her journalistic integrity to write about the endless parade of cults prophesying the end of all that we know. The Apocalypse is governed by a huge legal document negotiated by the angelic and demonic lawyers over thousands of years, and orchestrated by the bloated, heavenly bureaucracy.

I don't know how he did it, but he has found a way to slide in hilarious references to everything from theology to science fiction to evolution to physics and just about everything else. There is a joke in here for everyone - Kroese finds a way to equally offend and entertain. I rarely laugh due to reading something - my mind is quick enough to see what's coming so the surprise of the joke isn't there - except with Mercury Falls. His writing is so quick and witty that he's constantly catching me off guard. I've thrown my head back and deeply laughed several times.

This is the funniest book I have ever read. That isn't hyperbole, it's the fact that I have laughed more from reading this book than any other. Skip the sitcom and pick up Mercury Falls for a great time and lots of laughter.

A New Endeavor

2009-08-03T18:54:00.001-05:00

I'm starting a new blog about PowerPoint for Preachers. Below is an example of what I've been doing in the field.

I'd love to know what you think.

2009 08 02 What Is The Purpose Of Rules

View more presentations from James Wood.

Remember Me?

2009-06-09T17:12:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? I almost forgot I had a blog, what with all the Twitter and Facebook and Twitbook and Faceter.

So, since last we met the wife and I packed up our world, sold off our possessions and drove to Big Sky Country - Helena, Montana. She was laid off from her job and I graduated all at the same time (the same day, even). So when a church in the great-white-north invited me to come and preach for them in exchange for food, shelter, and money - well, we decided to take them up on it.

So on Saturday we rolled up to the Big Sky Church of Christ and moved into the basement of the church building. Then we woke up on Sunday morning and I got to preach for them. I'm still working on getting some pod-castable stuff going on, so I'll keep you posted on that.

Free at last

2009-04-21T12:17:00.003-05:00

Free ice cream at Ben and Jerry's today from 12pm to 8pm

Free coffee at Starbucks tomorrow if you bring in your own mug

Free awesome right here all day every day

Free from grad school in T-minus 11 days

April Fools is over, but

2009-04-06T13:02:00.003-05:00

I just saw this product. It's not a joke, but it should be.

Also, I didn't reveal our greatest April Fool's joke sooner because it involved a wee bit of mail fraud.

Check the whole thing here. The short of it is that we sent a letter to some friends of ours in the guise of a product recall for a diaper cream that we know they use. We recommended that they seek medical attention if experiencing any of the side effects listed:

rash, discoloration, mysochonosis, spontaneous dental hydroplosion, anal fissures, mandibular dislocation, acute or chronic hyperhydrosis, partial or complete bifurcation.

They totally bought it, and didn't figure it out until we called them to find out if they had heard about the product recall. They even noticed that the letter was from someone with the same name as me.

We are the champions my friends!

All Instant - All the Time

2009-04-01T00:00:00.002-05:00

I just found out that with a certain coffee company's new instant coffee breakthrough and the climate of the global economy they have decided to only brew instant coffee in their stores.

I'm not very happy about this. I joined up, in part, due to the love of coffee and the beans. Even though this is pretty good for instant coffee, that's like saying the Dixie Chicks are pretty good for country music - it's still bad, just not as bad.

So, unless the people rise up and do something about this, all the coffee (both drip and espresso drinks) will be instant. When they tried to stop breakfast sandwiches the masses rose up and changed their mind, we can stop this too. Just click here to sign the petition and help preserve good coffee for all.

2009-03-25T11:43:00.002-05:00

iTunes is a virus

2009-03-12T13:26:00.002-05:00

Is it just me or is iTunes just like a virus? iTunes tries to make my computer do things that I do not want it to do. The last time I dealt with a piece of software like this was when running AOL. It tries to install other programs that I don't want. Then if I try to get rid of it, it's incredibly difficult to uninstall all of the components. But there really awful thing is that is nearly impossible to live with out this software. Thanks, Apple!

I guess the definition of making things easier is to control all the aspects of someone's existence - then they won't have any problems.

Super Colon

2009-03-11T00:09:00.003-05:00

The Prevent Cancer Foundation was in my neighborhood today with their giant inflatable colon. It is an awareness raising tool to promote colon screenings.

Many of the people involved in running the event came into my store to get some coffee this morning, so I got to learn all about the giant colon (F.Y.I. there are 9 of these colons around the country and they cost $10,000 a day to rent). I thought this was fun and interesting, so I brought it up with other customers who came in.

One customer came in wearing scrubs, from which I could deduce that he works at the hospital. He had come in immediately after some of the people working at the aforementioned event. I proceeded to engage him in conversation about the event of the day.

I asked, "Are you a member of the colon brigade?"

He had nothing to do with the event.

And I'm pretty sure he's gay.

I think I sexually harassed one of my customers today.

"Manvotional"

2009-03-01T11:06:00.004-06:00

Over at the previously mentioned blog: Art of Manliness, they have what they call "manvotionals." This week's gave me chills:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

~T. Roosevelt

Milking the issues

2009-02-23T12:53:00.002-06:00

This is a post about the Oscars, so if you don't care, then you can stop reading right now.

At the Oscars last night the movie "Milk" won for best screenplay and Sean Penn won for best actor. Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor as the Joker in "Dark Night."

Here's my issue: the academy doesn't want to recognize truly great work, they want to recognize what is popular. I haven't seen "Milk" so I can't really judge whether the performance was that as good as they say. However, it is my opinion that the win had a lot more to do with the subject matter of the movie than with the actual performance (I call this the "Brokeback effect").

Additionally, Heath Ledger had to win for playing the Joker. Since he died there was no other option. I genuinely think he did an amazing job in playing the Joker, but no one else had a chance of winning because they didn't die. Now they can't be upset that they lost otherwise they will be jerks, and they can never know if their performance was the best or not (because they didn't die).

Skip it

2009-02-10T11:20:00.003-06:00

Seth Grodin just blogged about skipping to the good parts:

You can watch "the good parts" of a baseball game in about six minutes. The web has become a giant highlights reel... the best parts of SNL, the best parts of a speech, the best parts of a book . . .
As consumers of information, though, I wonder if the best parts are really the best parts. Yes, you can read a summary of a book instead of a book, or watch the trailer instead of the movie, or read the executive summary of the consultant's report instead of the whole thing... but the parts you miss are there for a reason.

Real change is rarely caused by the good parts. Real change and impact and joy come from the foundation and the transitions and the little messages that sneak in when you least expect them. The highlights of the baseball game are highlights largely because the rest of the game got you ready for them.

I hear what he's saying, but I'm not sure I agree. We have gotten really good at skimming for a reason. There is just too much information out there for us to meaningfully interact with all of it. How can we know what is the good stuff without skipping to the good parts?

He uses SNL as an example, I've tried watching it recently and it sucks, a lot. I just don't have the 1.5 hours a week to kill waiting for the potential of one or two good sketches (a season).

I feel the same way about many books and websites, I just can't spend the time to read every word. Words are too cheap. You're skimming this right now.

Seth is right, we do miss something when we don't absorb the experience. There is less drama to a sporting event, less impact to a sermon, less transformation from a book. But there is more. I can deal with more information if I refine my skimming skills. The trade is depth for breadth.

I think that there are times when our hyper-refinded skimming skills need to be put on the shelf. Seth speaks an appropriate word of caution to those of us who may be skimming through our world at ever increasing speed.

Take a deep breath.

Slow down.

Pick something that is really good (because you skimmed it and you know) and dig deep.

Enjoy.

Don Miller thinks you are a fat loser if you use a Mac

2009-02-05T19:05:00.004-06:00

Don Miller just blogged about Mac users. Check out some experpts:

Apple, having been a minority share-holder in the market branded themselves as aloof outsiders, swimming upstream in a culture of conformists. But in all reality, those of us who have fallen for this campaign are the worst offenders. I would even argue the use of Apple products, to some degree, mark us as the most insecure about our identities.

Apple products are defended with near-religious zest. But in our zest are we defending a company or our own identites? Perhaps what we’ve been offered is a brand to associate ourselves with, a brand that triggers our survival instincts, revealing we don’t believe we have enough to survive without this association? Perhaps the use of Apple products reveals insecurity more than it reveals confidence. . .

If you think about it, the most confident of counter-culture heros aren’t talking on i-phones, wearing designer jeans or jumping in the air in their facebook photos (why are all the hipsters suddenly jumping in their facebook photos? Why didn’t anybody call me to say we were doing that?) but instead are the people most of us might not notice. The reason we don’t notice these people is because they offer us no beneficial association. They buy products because the products work, they buy jeans because they cover their asses, and coats because a certain coat will keep them warm. A true counter culture is not manipulated by the whims of fashion and therefore is not made up of fashionable people.

I recommend reading the entire post, but that short quote will probably be enough to get mac fanboys doing some drive-by comment-flaming.

On another note, I like the way Don organizes his blog so that the first sentence of each paragraph is in bold so one can quickly scan the post and get the jist of things. Good job DM.

Question

2009-01-28T13:11:00.004-06:00

So this weekend the wife and I are going to engage in our annual State-of-the-Marriage weekend. We try to work through any big issues that have come up during the year and to set some goals for the year to come. We usually look at budget stuff, job stuff, housing stuff, married-people stuff (you know what I mean). This year, however, we're going to try to decide whether or not to have children.

When we got married we said we didn't want to have any kids until after we had been married for five years. Well that was in July. So now we are trying to make the call.

I'm posting this here not to ask for advice (opinions are ok though), but mostly to ask for prayer and wisdom. We don't want to make this decision lightly. It can't really be based on a list of pros and cons. We're trying to seek God's will for our life and for our marriage.

The Matrix Trilogy: Good or Lame

2009-01-26T17:13:00.004-06:00

So Jason and I were talking about the Matrix just the other day and I made it my goal to convince him that the second and third Matrix movies were, in fact, good and have philosophical depth.

Jason's contention (correct me if I'm wrong) is that while the first movie did in fact explore some deep philosophical issues, the second and third movies only had the appearance of depth without the actual substance.

I refered to this site where there are several philosophical essays which the Wachowski brothers released alongside the second and third movies. I feel that this is the best evidence that I can show that they considered more than just the surface of the philosophy that appeared in their movies. Other than that all I can offer is my opinion, for what that is worth.

I think that the Matrix trilogy moves us from grey to black-and-white to a multi-colored world. The grey is the meaningless fog in which Neo lived as a software developer. Then Morpheus and the gang (jinkies) led him on a journey of discovery where he saw that there is a conflict going on that is much greater than what he had known. Finally, Neo continues on this journey to learn that in this battle there is not a clear distinction between good and evil due to "race" or "religion" as there are evil humans and good machines. The world is full of color, the fog has been lifted and the details are becoming more clear. Smith wants to keep the world in the grey/black area, thus they must fight.

What do you think? Good or lame?

The Stealers

2009-01-19T16:11:00.002-06:00

It must suck to be a Stealers fan with a concience (if one exists). They are consitently rewarded for dirty play and given unfair opportunities by the refs. The good news is the Willis McGahee is expected to make a full recovery from the helmet-to-helmet hit that he suffered last night. The bad news is that there was no flag from the refs for an obvious rule violation.

Earlier in the game the refs handed the Stealers some points by calling pass interference in the end zone when there was clearly no foul (and they didn't call similar fouls against the Stealers).

I hope you're looking forward to a Superbowl where the refs do more of the same so their precious Stealers can win a seventh title. I wonder how many they would have if the game were called according to the rules.

Can't it be both?

2009-01-16T12:57:00.002-06:00

The question: "Can't it be both?" has become a common refrain in our house. It works so well as a response to many questions.

"Are you making fun of me or do you really hate the yarn fest over in Sisters?"

"Do you want cake or pie for dessert?"

"Are you going to take a nap this afternoon or sleep late tomorrow morning?"

See how well that works? It's a great response. But since we've been using this to confound and confuse one another, we have found our joke to have a more serious meaning. Too often religious questions are posed as "or" questions in order to separate groups.

"Do you immerse or sprinkle?"

"Do you use instruments or are you acappella?"

"Are you conservative or liberal?"

Why do we have to limit and confine ourselves by these either-or questions? So much of our religious discussion has turned divisive when that has very little to do with the ministry of Jesus. When he was asked either-or questions his responses were often similar.

"Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?

"Will there be marriage in heaven or won't there?"

"Did you come to unite us or divide us?"

You're your own worst critic

2008-12-30T15:53:00.002-06:00

I was just thinking today about how common it is for people to misuse homonyms (or even words that sound close, but are not the same). Recently I've seen a few bad ones, so as a public service I will attempt to offer some clarity.

Allude: to make a veiled reference
Elude: to avoid, escape attention

Allusion: that to which one alludes
Illusion: an image or vision which is not real

Ad: short for advertisement
Add: the opposite of subtraction

Which ones annoy you?

rebuttal to Twilight

2008-12-05T18:18:00.002-06:00

If you can't fall in love with them then there is only one other option - take 'em down.

Grieving and Hallucinations

2008-12-03T12:00:00.003-06:00

You probably read the title of this post and thought: "Wait, what?"

That's what I thought when I saw this article.

The gist of it is that it is very, very common for someone to hallucinate when under stress and the death of a loved one produces the highest levels of stress. Their research showed that 80% of elderly widows/widowers had an hallucination of their lost spouse. Only one fifth did not hallucinate!

Mostly I share this to offer some normalcy for those who have gone through grief or are going through grief. It is normal and natural for you to hallucinate and to see the person you lost. The vast majority of the time the hallucination is experienced as a comfort. This is normal and sane and perfectly alright. If you have lost someone close, I am deeply sorry for you - I hope this offers some comfort.

failblog

2008-11-29T11:06:00.003-06:00

Just a couple quick examples of a very funny site. If you haven't found this yet, you should check it out. For some reason the failures of other people makes me feel better about myself.

Enjoy

With all due respect, you shouldn't of

2008-11-18T16:46:00.002-06:00

Oxford compiled a list of the most irritating phrases in the English language:

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

What other words or phrases irritate you? I personally abhor: "litterally," any variation of "give 110%," relating a unit of distance or area to the equivalent number of football fields, and "irregardless".

Now you go . . .

I feel vindicated!

2008-11-05T09:10:00.002-06:00

I just heard on the news that this actually is the longest campaign in history. I just thought it felt like it was taking forever, come to find out it actually did.

It's finally over.

Well, I guess it's time to start for 2012!

Free coffee at Starbucks today - just tell them you voted

2008-11-04T15:08:00.000-06:00

Bradley Effect

2008-10-30T19:32:00.002-05:00

Have you heard of the Bradley Effect? The short description is that when polled, Caucasians will claim to be voting for an African-American candidate but when the same Caucasians are in the voting booth with guaranteed anonymity they will actually vote for a Caucasian candidate. The polls are skewed by the "white-guilt" of the responders.

Obama is ahead in the polls. How much of his lead is due to the Bradley Effect?

I also wonder about a form of the Dewey Effect (if you will recall, Dewey though he had won the election due to polls, but the polls were skewed due to the number of people without phones). Since increasing numbers of people are opting to not have a land-line telephone and to only have a cell phone, those individuals are under represented in the polls.

Do the Bradley Effect and the Dewey Effect offset?

O, School of Brotherly Love . . .

2008-10-27T17:41:00.004-05:00

Well, it's over. Cascade College is closing at the end of this school year (May 2009). I'm still digesting this information.

If you know of an awesome job for my wife let me know (or her, what-evs).

It's bad

2008-10-22T00:41:00.003-05:00

It sucks to be a Seattle sports fan right now. A lot.

Seattle Football: 1 - 11 (Huskies and Seahawks)
Seattle Baseball: it was over in August and they haven't been competitive since 2001 or so.
Seattle Basketball: GONE (I'm still bitter and probably will be for a long time).

I just had to complain a bit.

Too good to not share

2008-10-19T16:43:00.001-05:00

From: The Art of Manliness

Manvotional: The American Boy by Theodore Roosevelt

October 19, 2008

Welcome back! Enjoy your stay, and don't forget to man up!

In a speech, Roosevelt extolled the manly virtues that every boy and man should develop: hard work, courage, and a disposition to do good. The lack of men of character in the world today makes this speech relevant even today. As fathers or mentors, let us seek to raise up a generation of boys like the one TR describes. As men, let us seek to develop these traits ourselves.

What we have a right to expect of the American boy is that he shall turn out to be a good American man.

The boy can best become a good man by being a good boy–not a goody-goody boy, but just a plain good boy.

I do not mean that he must love only the negative virtues; I mean that he must love the positive virtues also. ‘Good,’ in the largest sense, should include whatever is fine, straightforward, clean, brave and manly.

The best boys I know–the best men I know–are good at their studies or their business, fearless and stalwart, hated and feared by all that is wicked and depraved, incapable of submitting to wrongdoing, and equally incapable of being aught but tender to the weak and helpless.

Of course the effect that a thoroughly manly, thoroughly straight and upright boy can have upon the companions of his own age, and upon those who are younger, is incalculable.

If he is not thoroughly manly, then they will not respect him, and his good qualities will count for but little; while, of course, if he is mean, cruel, or wicked, then his physical strength and force of mind merely make him so much the more objectionable a member of society.

He can not do good work if he is not strong and does not try with his whole heart and soul to count in any contest; and his strength will be a curse to himself and to every one else if he does not have a thorough command over himself and over his own evil passions, and if he does not use his strength on the side of decency, justice and fair dealing.

In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard: don’t foul and don’t shirk, but hit the line hard.

The pain of leadership

2008-10-16T19:29:00.003-05:00

I just watched a special on the History Chanel about Abraham Lincoln. The key thing on which they focused was that he struggled his whole life with depression. He had suicidal thoughts and struggled daily with the weight of his job as president.

What strikes me, is that we often gloss over the deep struggles of our leaders and instead focus on their shining moments. We see Moses confronting Pharaoh, not Moses shepherding flocks for 40 years while he deals with his rejection and fall from power. We see David slaying Goliath rather than David in a tomb, acting like a crazy person so that he can save his own life. We see Paul preaching and writing amazing messages rather than a lonely, man who is rejected and feared by everyone spending three years alone in the wilderness.

It is good to remember that the greatest leaders are those who have struggled greatly with themselves so that when external struggles arise they are equipped to succeed.

How are you struggling with yourself? Don't worry about how that might prepare you for the future, rather enter the struggle with all your might knowing that your first, your only battle is the battle for your soul. It is in this fight that you become a tool which God can use in his work as he fights for his kingdom.

A little dash of awesome for you

2008-10-08T10:25:00.003-05:00

I feel like I'm late to the game on this, but I just had the time to watch some online video that has been recommended to me. I've attached the first section below if you're interested. If you like music or science or comedy or horses or Joss Whedon then you will love this:

All Discovered Up

2008-10-06T12:56:00.004-05:00

So we're back from Discovery Lab and boy did we discover a lot. If you're super curious you can check out the links for some more details.

We had an intense, awesome, exciting week with some godly people. All the prayers were answered. God spoke his wisdom into our lives through the community of his people empowered by his Spirit.

So here's the deal: we need more experience. We have a lot of the tools necessary to be successful church planters, and I feel that God confirmed that he has placed a church inside me. But it's not ready to come out yet. The next step is for me to work full time in ministry and to get intentional about developing the skills I need (evangelism, leadership, and preaching).

Got any leads?

More prayers will be appreciated.

Here I'm doing a great job of catching Ryan . . .

But Jessica doesn't trust me.

Hey, guess what

2008-09-29T09:43:00.001-05:00

We're out at discovery lab right now! If you want to keeps tabs on what we're doing I will try to blog about every day or so over here at the church planty blog.

I'm Nervous

2008-09-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

Cross posted from: Soma Christou:

On Sunday we head out for Discovery Lab with Kairos Church Planting Support. From the Kairos Website:

Discovery Lab is designed to provide you both these tools. It a behavioral assessment to help you, as a church planter candidate, gather information about yourself to see more clearly where you might best serve the kingdom with your abilities and skills. The final outcome of Discovery Lab is a Church Planter Profile summarizing your character traits, ministry skills and readiness for church planting.

I'm nervous because this is a major step in our journey toward church planting. There is a lot on the line here. We've been dreaming about this for years now. We moved across the country for school. We moved into the neighborhood where we feel God has called us to plant a church. Now in just a few days we will submit our dreams and plans to the oversight and direction of Kairos.

I would really appreciate your prayers for us.

Big nose

2008-09-12T23:11:00.003-05:00

For those of you fluent in ancient Hebrew this will be a boring blog.

For the rest of you, I thought you might find it interesting to know that when God describes himself in Exodus 34 one of the descriptions is that he is slow to anger. Literally in Hebrew this is that God has a long nose. The Hebrews thought that anger originated in the nose (probably because when one gets angry their nostrils will flare), so one who has a long nose requires more time for the anger go come forth.

Big noses are God like.

Just thought you might like to know.

Leadership Principles

2008-09-10T10:58:00.001-05:00

Cross posted from Soma Christou: a church of Christ

This last weekend we had our final dragon boat race of the season. In the picture you can see me as the tiller (the guy who steers the boat). Our team traveled to Seattle for the weekend, but we have been losing more and more people over the course of the summer so we had to join up with half a team from Seattle in order to fill a boat.

The first time we had paddled together was our first race (we came in 2nd out of three). Things weren't perfect, but I could definitely feel the power on the boat. The second race we didn't improve much (3rd out of 4). By the time we were getting to our third heat of the day the lake was getting choppy and we had lost a paddler who had to leave early.

We tried to compensate, but during the race something went wrong and the boat turned sharply to the left (remember it's my job to steer us). I had to stop us and turn us the right direction in order to finish - we were 30 seconds off the pace. I was upset with myself for not doing my job and costing us precious time in the race.

The next day we arrived to very choppy water and a moderately strong wind. The race coordinators were all cautioning us as to how we needed to avoid the wind and to keep the boat balanced so we would not capsize. We got out on the water and got ourselves aligned for the race. The start was good, but again about mid-way through the race the boat veered sharply to the left. I had to stop us to prevent us hitting another boat and then get us going the right direction again. I was furious. Livid. How could I have made the same mistake twice?!

I directed the paddlers to dock the boat and I immediately went to the race coordinators and asked if I could be replaced as the tiller. I explained that I keep making the same mistake and we don't have time for me to learn during the races. They were great and found us another tiller and I replaced our missing paddler on the boat.

I couldn't immediately join my team because I was still very upset with myself. So, I found a quiet place and sat alone for a bit. That's when Dr. Huffard would have been proud of me - I immediately thought of a leadership principle that I had learned from my experience ( I took a class in leadership from Dr. Huffard and he wanted us to develop the skill of finding leadership principles in our experiences).

A good leader will not allow their personal shortcomings to bring down the team which they lead.

There just wasn't enough time for me to work on my own skills. The only time we had on the boats was time to race. I found out after the fact that there are significant difference in the boat structure versus what we are used to and having a team that has never paddled together did not make my job easier. I'm sure that if we had some time to practice with that team in those boats on that lake that I could have done a much better job. However, without that opportunity the best thing that I could do as a leader is to defer to someone with more experience to step in and take over for the short term.

Have you ever been in this type of situation? Have you ever felt like there was nothing you could do to fix your mistakes? Sometimes, as a leader, there is nothing you can do in the moment; it's time to step aside and let someone else help. You can fix your mistakes later, when the work of the team isn't on the line.

Dragon Boating

2008-09-10T10:27:00.003-05:00

Here is some more evidence that I was actually a dragon boater.

How long, O Lord, how long?

2008-09-05T10:12:00.004-05:00

How long do you think it will be until Bret gets hurt? Perhaps he forgot the Madden curse when he decided to un-retire. By the way, is that indian-retiring? Or perhaps he hopes to avoid the curse by wearing a different uniform.

I give him 2 weeks.

Particle Physics for the rest of us

2008-09-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

In case you wanted to know I found this primer on particle physics. From Wired.com:

With CERN's Large Hadron Collider finally coming online, watercoolers around the world will soon be abuzz with talk of Higgs bosons, gluons, and other mind-blowing subatomic thingies. How to keep track of all that quantum fluff? It's easier than you think. Fans of shows likeSurvivor, American Idol, Top Chef, or America's Next Top Model already have the tools they need to wrap their heads around the fundamental bits in our universe. Turns out, if you understand reality TV, you can understand reality.

Gluons (high-powered producers)

Gluons are the Donald Trumps, Tyra Bankses, and Mark Burnetts of the subatomic world. Just as these executive producers (often doubling as onscreen overlords) dictate the rules and force contestants into tightly knit alliances for survival, gluons wield what's called the strong nuclear force, impelling quarks to clump together into the neutrons and protons of an atom's nucleus.

Quarks (contestants)

There are six types of quark, arbitrarily named up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange. Think of them as the personality types that make every reality show go: the gay one, the jock, the bumpkin, the minority, the brainiac, and the drunken train-wreck girl. They always form alliances (called hadrons), and, well, they work best in threesomes. Hot!

Higgs boson (lasting fame)

We know the Higgs boson particle must exist — it's why matter has mass. But physicists have been unable to observe it. Have folks like Kelly Clarkson found the Higgs boson of reality TV — enduring stardom? Let's hope so. Because like the real Higgs boson, if lasting fame isn't possible, the whole Theory of Everything will need to be reconsidered.

Photons (non-judging hosts)

Photons carry electromagnetism, which bonds electrons to nuclei, and generally keep the excitement level up. Zooming around at the speed of light, these energetic particles hold the whole shebang together — just like Ryan Seacrest, Idol's charismatic liaison between judges, contestants, and viewers.

Leptons (non-hosting judges)

Many shows have a panel of regulars that sit on the sidelines and observe. This is the lepton family. Some, like electrons, matter (Tom Colicchio).Some, like muons, are overblown and unstable (Simon Cowell). Others, like neutrinos, pass through without ever making contact with reality (Paula Abdul).

W and Z bosons (surprise guests)

W and Z bosons carry the weak nuclear force, which causes other particles to decay. These are like the parents, ex-lovers, and others who pop into a show merely to wreak havoc. Think Flavor of Love's Tiffany Pollard, aka New York, who returned in season two to terrorize anew.

The Bore-gonian

2008-08-31T16:04:00.000-05:00

Rant Alert!

For those of you not in the Northwest, the Oregonian is the major newspaper in the state and in Portland specifically. If you like to read it . . . I'm happy that you enjoy it. I used to subscribe to the paper (6 or 7 years ago), but found that the majority of the time I was picking it up off the front porch and putting it in the recycling bin on the back porch. More recently I have been working at a place that sells this paper, so I get to see the headlines on a daily basis. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but I think it's ok with newspapers.

During the NBA season I think we went for 18 days straight where the front page article was about the Portland Trailblazers. There were numerous days where there was news that had an impact an any way on the citizens of the city and state. Lately, we have gone back and forth between the 'Blazers and the birth of a baby elephant at the zoo. Yeah, Obama's selection of a VP candidate didn't make it, Obama's speech got bumped, Huricanes ravaging the gulf - no mention.

How is this our major news source? Basketball and pachyderms are the reason that people will pick up the paper? Readership is increased by a giant picture of Greg Oden? How shallow is our city? This makes me feel a little embarrassed to be an Oregonian - good thing that only about 20% of the people here actually read the thing.

Obligatory Political Post

2008-08-30T16:22:00.003-05:00

I'm wondering if this election will make history for votership . . . I feel like a lot more people are taking interest in what's happening. For the first time in my life I listened to the speech from a party convention.

Here's what I'm thinking right now . . .

Obama: His speech told me that he's a Democrat to the core. I had heard good things, but when he spoke I heard the same rhetoric as always - he's partisan, and is holding the party line on many issues. He railed on about how we need change in Washington, but he proposed doing so by continuing the old Democratic policies. I heard some good things from him to be sure, but most of it was couched in a diatribe against Bush which is a shallow, immature political tactic.

McCain: His Veep choice is a brilliant pollitical move. I think he is trying to court the disenfranchised Clinton suporters - I have to wonder how successful he will be. By bringing youth and feminity to his ticket he broadens his appeal. It doesn't hurt that she is an attractive woman because McCain isn't too easy on the eyes if you know what I'm saying. His platform isn't too bad, it's defintely not the "four more years of the last eight years" as Obama would paint it. I don't want be a one issue voter, but if he were to promise to privatize Social (in)Securty that would get me in a hot second. I am disgusted with Bush et al backing out on their plan.

Thanks

2008-08-30T16:02:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Mark for pointing out some of the cool new features on blogger look right to see them in action.

Kingdom Work

2008-08-27T11:02:00.001-05:00

Cross Posted from: Soma Christou.

On Saturday, August 23rd we were blessed to be a part of the Agape Blitz. Our contribution was to help out at Lincoln High School where we led a team in performing some much needed maintenance around the campus. We weeded and painted and took care of the place so that when students return it will look a little better.

What really struck me though was the people that joined in the service. Most of the time we think of service as being what privileged people do for those with less (and that is often what it is), but on Saturday I saw something that spoke of Kingdom to me - a small group of people from a brand new church were the ones working to help out the school where many of the wealthy citizens of Portland send their children. One of the servants had been homeless not too long ago! The wealthy people should be serving the poor, but the Kingdom uses the poor to serve the rich . . .

God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are . . .

I saw Kingdom Work on Saturday - and the parents in charge of the work day saw it too.

What the eff?

2008-08-15T15:51:00.000-05:00

What do you think about Christians that swear? Is it ok for Christians to swear or is cussing a sin?

Time Magazine's "Best Theologian" of 2001, Stanley Hauerwas, is well know for his foul mouth.

On the other extreme is a person who claims that when one uses words such as 'heck' and 'shoot' that it "shows disrespect toward God"

I have found myself using more 'colorful' language of late. I'm not trying to justify what I'm doing, but to really explore my actions.

I remember feeling guilty about swearing when I was younger and working hard to break the habit. I also felt that Baptists were going to hell for believing in Calvinism. As I have matured I no longer condemn my Baptist brothers and sisters. Was my opinion of language also childish?

I think this text has some bearing on the issue: "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Eph. 4.29) But does "unwholesome talk" encompass the words that we consider 'bad' or is it the content of our speech?

Are we becoming of the world by cussing, or are we living in the world as the incarnation of God through the Spirit when we speak to people in their own language? Do we bear a better witness when we watch or language, or do we connect with people better when they feel comfortable to speak freely around us?

I want one!

2008-08-14T16:15:00.000-05:00

"Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects."*

Please, please, please get me a cloaking device!

Tropic Thunder

2008-08-13T13:49:00.003-05:00

We got free tickets to a screening of "Tropic Thunder" last night (it comes out on Friday). All I have to say is that this movie is ridiculously funny.

It is funny like "Walk Hard" or "Taledega Nights" in quality and quantity of the humor. Yes, that means it is a filthy, disturbing movie that will make you cringe as often as it will make you laugh. Yes that means that (if you like those other movies) you will laugh until your abs hurt and your cheeks ache.

I won't spoil anything for you by telling you that this movie is about people trying to make a war movie and getting caught up in real conflict. But just like "Anchor Man" was about a TV news anchor, the plot doesn't encompass the depth and breadth of the hilarity.

Go and see this movie (if you are not easily offended and you like the movies above).

YES!

2008-08-11T16:11:00.002-05:00

The Art of Manliness blog has a post that says it so much better than I could.

Why Being “Indie” is a Bunch of Bunk

The indie identity is based on the idea of being independent from the mainstream. To this end, indie people buy clothes, CD’s, furniture, books, food, and concert and movie tickets that are not popular with the masses. Instead of going to Chili’s, they frequent their local Thai restaurant; instead of going to Wal-Mart, they go to Whole Foods; instead of picking up the new Coldplay CD, they buy an album from Blood Red Shoes; instead of shopping at the Gap, they buy from American Apparel; instead of buying a Dell they buy an Apple (sure they’re a big corporation, but they’re so cool). But what is the common denominator in all of those things? Spending money. Consumption. Indie people express their independence from the mainstream by doing the single most mainstream thing possible: basing their identity on what they consume.

CERN Large Hadron Collider

2008-08-09T16:27:00.002-05:00

On September 10th the CERN Large Hadron Collider will go online in Europe. It aims to solve some of the mysteries of particle physics by accelerating stuff and then crashing it together so that is all blows up. Then they look at what comes out to see what stuff is made of.

Too sciency for you? Sorry.

Check out this rap by the people building the collider:

Some people are afear'd that this thing will break the earth by ripping time open or creating a black hole inside the earth or something.

Be a Man!

2008-08-05T11:05:00.002-05:00

So I found this new blog that I pretty sweet. It is called the Art of Manliness - and if you are of that gender you should go and check it out.

Topics that I have seen so far range from how to be a good father to how to dress well or to speak well or to give flowers with deep meaning. The blog is written by a man and his wife, so you are getting what men like and what (at least one) women like in a man.

I think that we need more of this. God created men and women to be different - we need to celebrate those differences. A true man will support, respect, and empower women; but he will do it through his masculinity and empower her to use her femininity.

When the bible says that God created humanity in his image it immediately says that he created male and female - both male and female together make up the image of God.

So be a man (if you are one), and reflect God's image (or at least half of it); if you are a woman then you can reflect the other half of God's image. Together we can show the world the face of God!

push up date

2008-08-02T13:15:00.003-05:00

A quick update on my journey to be able to do a hundred push ups in 6 weeks. Week one went alright, but somewhere along the way I injured my neck/shoulder - not a big deal, but I had to take a day off. I went back and re-did the last two days of week 1 and I'm ready to move on to week 2. I'm already feeling stronger and more confident.

You should try it.

Cheap Cheesecake today

2008-07-30T13:11:00.002-05:00

To celebrate their 30th anniversary the Cheesecake Factory is selling their slices for $1.50 (1978 pricing).

Just thought you might be interested . . . that I'm the same age as the Cheesecake Factory (and so is Tim).

what the Knol?

2008-07-24T00:01:00.003-05:00

So Google has launched a knew site called Knol (which is one unit of knowledge, apparently). Their plan is that they will have articles on all sorts of topics that people can search and create for free . . . wait, isn't someone else already doing this?

Here's the difference, on Knol you know exactly who is providing the information and the person can copyright their material. So even though it only launched today, there are already articles on there from some people who are doing research in their field and stuff. If there are multiple articles, the one from the most highly qualified person will be at the top.

You can write a knol if you want to - if you are an expert on a topic. What do you know so well that you want to write a knol on it? Is this going to bring down wikipedia?

Ow. Or, NaNoWriMo for your pecs.

2008-07-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

So I was kickin' it over at Life Hacker letting my inner nerd run free and they had a post about going from 0 to a Hundred Pushups in 6 weeks.

Wait, what? This is my nerdy-nerd site, they aren't supposed to tell me about exercise.

Unfortunately I'm also reading a great book about how brains work, and the first rule is to exercise for optimal brain function. Oh, that's the connection between push ups and nerdiness.

So I'm going to try it! Remember, this is a plan to start at slug level, so don't worry about where you are if you want to join in. They have all different types of push ups to work with all different strength levels. C'mon, you should do this too.

If this is successful the next step is couch to 5k in 6 weeks.

Divine Affirmation

2008-07-19T10:20:00.001-05:00

Cross posted from the Soma Christou Blog

I don't want to jump on the wagon of attributing everything that ever happens to divine intervention. I think that God has given us free will for a reason (ask me, and I'll tell you), and a whole lot of what goes on in life is better attributed to our freedom and the laws of nature. But I do believe that God is in the business of breaking into our world with glimpses of his kingdom (in fact, I think that's what the church is supposed to be doing).

All that qualifying stuff said: I love it when God gives some affirmation to what I've been planning. Church planting can be nervous work - we are stepping out in faith with no guaranteed paycheck or congregation. But we believe that God has called us to this work and that he will provide for us. I always get chills when the provision confirms the call. Even though it has happened a bunch of times, I still find myself surprised when God steps in and provides for us.

Thanks to the Living Streams Church of Christ for helping us with our Discovery Lab expenses. Especially, thank you for being the voice of God helping to confirm his calling in our lives.

Eschew Obfuscation

2008-07-15T17:56:00.000-05:00

Laptop Survey

2008-07-08T19:40:00.003-05:00

Hey all you laptop toting friends: I have a question for you. What do you want in a lappie? Is it better to have a big, powerful machine that can do whatever you want? Is it better to have a light and portable system that is easy to lug around?

I'll probably be getting a new rig in a few months and I'm trying to decide what to get.

Tattoo Ideas

2008-07-06T16:50:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple of ideas that I have for a tattoo. The text comes from Exodus 34:6-7:

6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.

These are the Hebrew words that God uses to describe himself. I have it with either the trinity symbol or the Celtic cross with the trinity symbol.

What do you think?

Note: I totally give credit to Kevin for this idea. Is it enough of my own thing?

Cuss Words

2008-07-03T05:51:00.002-05:00

The Seattle Supersonics are no more.

It was difficult for me to even type that sentence. I haven't been around for all 41 years of the team's history in Seattle, but as long as I've been alive there have been Sonics in Seattle. Now the team has died in the settlement between the city of Seattle and the devil . . . er . . . Clay Bennet. Oklahoma gets the team; Seattle gets the name - and the memories. There will be no Sonics in Oklahoma, but the entire organization, under a different name, will move there.

I wonder how the Blazers are going to do this season . . .

A New Blog

2008-07-01T12:28:00.003-05:00

I've started a blog over here to keep people up to date on our church planting activities. Check it out . . . please.

Note: Dwayne and I have discussed the similar names. We're ok with it, so you should be too. I had mine first though ;)

Rich was right

2008-06-28T19:57:00.002-05:00

There is a new Diablo game coming out. When? No one knows (Blizzard will work on it until it's awesome). If it's anything like the previous games then I'm in for some short nights of sleep. Bring it on!

Old Freakin-Hickory

2008-06-26T16:26:00.003-05:00

This to you straight from the History Channel:
Apparently, Andrew Jackson liked to duel people, to build his reputation. He was crafty though, one time he made an agreement with the other guy and they both shot their pistols into the air. They both got the street cred for being dueling studs, but they also both got to live.

Another time he dueled a guy who accused his wife of being an adulteress (I would fight too!); the problem is that he was fighting a guy with a reputation for being a great shot. So he hatched a plan . . . he let the guy shoot him (he was hit in the chest a few inches from his heart). He put his left hand over the wound to slow the bleeding. Then he slowly and carefully took aim. He shot his opponent and killed him. It took Jackson three months to recover from his wound.

Dang! The next time you talk about Tiger Woods being tough for playing golf hurt, you should reconsider your definition of tough.

Dang!

Just in Case

2008-06-25T10:39:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure how many of my readers have experience the botched "high-five", but it can be a frustrating experience. Wired Wiki has you covered with a comprehensive how-to.

trigenarianism

2008-06-18T13:09:00.002-05:00

I have spent one full day as the latest member of the trigenarian club. I didn't hurt too much.

I have been a little depressed leading up to this. Mostly because I don't think I'm as far along in "life" as I expected to be at this age. I know that I shouldn't compare myself to others, but it's hard not to see what other people my age have accomplished in their lives.

Blah, blah, blah - it's not a sprint, it's a marathon - blah, blah, blah. That doesn't keep me from being a little depressed. As a guy, I'm "supposed to" compare myself to others and to compete to be better. I know this isn't necessarily the right thing to do, but in my weaker moments I can't help but look around at other people who have working in their career for 10 years by the time their my age - I'm still an intern. Some times I wonder if I'll ever get there.

Note: I'm not looking to be cheered up. I'm not fishing for compliments. I just wanted to share these thoughts. I'll be fine. I know that I have to walk my path and not others'. I just needed to get this out of my head. Thanks.

Best Panhandling Sign Ever

2008-06-13T21:00:00.001-05:00

"Father killed by ninjas; need money for karate lessons."

More of the same

2008-06-12T13:03:00.002-05:00

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one thinking about stuff. In a new article, author Nicholas Carr discusses the way that our brains are changing due to our use of the internet.

The human brain is almost infinitely malleable. People used to think that our mental meshwork, the dense connections formed among the 100 billion or so neurons inside our skulls, was largely fixed by the time we reached adulthood. But brain researchers have discovered that that’s not the case. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience who directs the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones. “The brain,” according to Olds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

Carr laments his growing inability to concentrate on reading for an extended period - he finds himself constantly distracted, when once he could lose himself in a text. I have to say that I'm feeling the same thing. There are so many books on my shelf that I want to read, I ought to read, but I haven't read. It has been troubling me that I seemed to have lost my ability to sit down and devour a book - this may be the cause.

Finally Carr delineates the difference between information and knowledge. With Google (et al) we have information at our fingertips, but that does not make us knowledgeable, or wise. We must still deal with the information in a meaningful manner to claim knowledge, and without experience we cannot claim to be wise.

Does this ring true with you? Did you scan this blog post for the highlights? Where do we go from here?

Yes

2008-06-04T12:48:00.003-05:00

I heard about this on TV. I found it on another blog. Enjoy.

Civic Duty

2008-05-28T16:34:00.002-05:00

I was selected to serve my community as a juror recently. I'm in the midst of a case that will last another three days (they expect).

It's really fascinating to be a part of this process.

I'm not a brain scientist . . .

2008-05-21T11:20:00.004-05:00

I heard about this on one of the websites I check regularly.

You need to check this out. Watch the video below. Go to the website to watch more videos. There are 12 "Brain Rules" which have been drawn from scientific research and shed a lot of light on how we live, work, and learn.

I'm drawn to this to learn how to better present/preach (do you know that without a significant emotional connection the attention span cannot exceed 10 minutes). Join me. Learn some brain rules . . .

Birthday wishes

2008-05-17T00:01:00.004-05:00

Um . . . I know what I want for my birthday. Airwolf is on eBay.

I would need some helicopter piloting lessons, too.

You have a month.

Thanks!

Hot Town, Summer in the City

2008-05-16T13:53:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to Lasers! (One Schrute Buck to anyone who can tell me what lasers stands for).

It was 86 degrees yesterday and it could reach 92 today. If you want a frappuccino™, don't come and see me, please.

Tradition vs. Text

2008-05-10T11:50:00.004-05:00

Check out this previous post for some context.

It seemed to be the consensus of the majority of the commenters on my previous post that when faced with biblical texts that lack good historical evidence we use tradition to determine whether or not it should be used in the work of the church.

Guess what, you're all Catholics! Ok, maybe not totally, Catholic, but a little bit.

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century was, in part, a "protest" against the Catholic church using tradition to interpret Scripture. They wanted to set Scripture over and above the authority of the church. Now you just said that we should interpret Scripture according to the tradition of the church . . .

Doh!

Cheap as Free

2008-05-10T11:44:00.002-05:00

Hey, do you like free stuff? Me too!

If you frequent Starbucks and you like coffee, then let me clue you in to a neat trick. If you get a gift card and register it (online or over the phone) then when you buy a cup of coffee you get free refills. So if you use you neighborhood coffee shop as an office, you can stop nursing that one cup all day and get a refill.

Also, the auto-reload feature on the gift card is a great way to stick to a budget - you can set it to load a certain amount each month and then when it's gone, you're done for the month.

How do you use apocryphal texts?

2008-04-30T10:36:00.002-05:00

I know, that title really makes you want to read the post, huh?

I hope to make this somewhat interesting and thought provoking.

This question comes from a couple of texts in the New Testament (John 8 and Mark 16) that do not appear in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. That means that for the first several centuries of the church, no one knew about these passages.

But the problem is that John 8 tells of the woman caught in adultery where Jesus says: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." We love that passage! Preachers love to preach on that passage; Christian counselors love to teach from that passage.

In Mark 16 we get a favorite verse: "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

So do we throw out these passages because the historic and manuscript evidence does not support their place in the bible? Or do we use these passages because we have about 1500 years of Christian tradition supporting their use in the ministry of the church?

What do you think?

Freebie!

2008-04-29T10:23:00.001-05:00

Today is free cone day at Ben and Jerry's - go get some!

Firsts

2008-04-25T18:20:00.002-05:00

So I had a day of firsts yesterday. I started off the day by having my first solo opening shift at work. I didn't burn the place down and everyone got the coffee they wanted, so it was pretty successful.

After work I met up with the dragon boat team. I've been learning how to till the boat, but when I got there I was the only one with any tilling experience. So I had my first solo tilling gig.

These experiences are good for me . . . mostly. I really like learning new things and bettering myself. But I really hate sucking at something. That's the problem with trying new things - you have to suck when you start. I want to be good at stuff, but in order to get there I have to suck first. Dang.

Greenheezy

2008-04-22T16:09:00.003-05:00

So, in honor of Earth Day I want to pose this thought. If we're suffering from a lack of food, and greenhouses are good for growing stuff, then wouldn't it be good to use the greenhouse effect to make the earth better at growing food?

I'm just saying . . .

I ain't got the words

2008-04-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

I nearly wept.

Thanks Howie

2008-04-16T14:05:00.003-05:00

Not much lately - the close of the semester approaches.

I do have to say that Howard Schultz warms the cockles of my heart. Not only did he come out of retirement to take the helm of a coffee company that is near and dear to me, but he's also filed a lawsuit against the current owners of the Seattle Supersonics (he was the former owner) saying that they did not make a good faith effort to keep the team in Seattle, and therefore breached the terms of the contract.

Whatever happens with the team, this is a good move. Thanks, Howie!

Smart Move Einstein!

2008-03-29T14:14:00.003-05:00

I'm just kickin' it watching some o' the History channel's series "The Universe" and they just talked about Einstein's formation of the theory of general relativity. They pointed out that even as he was forming the theory that spoke of space-time being shaped by gravity, he resisted the conclusion that the universe must be dynamic. He wanted to believe in a static, eternal universe so badly that he rejected his own findings that the universe must be finite and dynamic.

As a church planter I see the same things happening in the emerging church. There are people who are re-reading the bible and proposing some great things about how we ought to do church, but they are not ready or willing to accept the logical end of their proposals. So churches and leaders may be speaking the words of the emerging church, but their actions do not reflect their words.

I wonder not if, but to what extent I do that. I know that I'm steeped in my traditions and it is hard for me to shed their bonds in favor of a completely fresh reading of the bible. I hope that I can offer something of worth to the conversation.

They need counseling

2008-03-19T17:48:00.001-05:00

The Rose City

2008-03-17T15:52:00.006-05:00

I'm back from my trip to Memphis. I had a great time and tried to fill every spare moment with friends. There are so many people that I couldn't see everyone that I wanted to see, so I'm sorry if I didn't spend enough/any time with you, it's not for a lack of desire, just a lack of time and resources.

Most of the conversations I had were about what Andrea and I are doing now and how we like living in Portland. Well, we like Portland a lot, a whole lot. But we're not alone in thinking that Portland is an awesome place and I thought I would share just a few of the praises lavished upon my town.

Popular Science called Portland the Greenest City.

Delta Sky magazine ran an article about the city in which they said:

There’s no way to spare you the litany of Portland’s recent “bests.” In the last three years, for example, Grist magazine called us the second-Greenest city in the world, while MSN.com’s City Guides puts us among the 10 Greenest cities in America. OK, we’ll have to try a little harder. But we grabbed the No. 1 spot on SustainLane.com’s 2006 list of America’s most sustainable big cities, Men’s Journal called us the best place to live in the United States, Prevention (and the American Podiatric Medical Association) in 2006 called us the best walking town in America, and Bicycling says we’re the best cycling city in America. I could go on. OK, I will. Outside magazine ranks us as one of the 10 perfect towns that have it all. No less an authority than Reader’s Digest says we’re America’s cleanest city. And Frommer’s Guidebooks listed us as one of the world’s top travel destinations for 2007.

In an article on Northwest Cable News they pile on the accolades:

Add best airport, best festival (the Rose Festival), top honors for travel destination, cooking and restaurants, fitness, bicycling to work, green building practices, livability, independent movie-making, clean air and recently, historic building preservation.

I could continue, but I think this suffices in making my point that . . . Portland Rocks! So you should come and see us.

kernel of wheat

2008-03-14T17:26:00.001-05:00

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 12:24

I have been thinking for some time about the function of the Protestant Reformation and Christian denominations. Especially with Jesus prayer that all believers would be marked with unity, it is troubling that Christianity is scarred by divisions at nearly every level. It occurred to me that perhaps the Protestant Reformation might be akin to what happens when the "kernel of wheat falls to the ground". The Catholic Church was the kernel and it grew and thrived and eventually began to decline (especially morally), but out of their work was birthed the Protestant Reformation, they produced "many seeds."

In the centuries since the Protestant Reformation there have been many denominations that have been vying with one another. But nearly every Christian denomination in the West is in a decline. Now we are seeing church planting movements and emerging church movements arise within and across denominational boundaries. The variety and diversity has increased greatly.

What if all this was what God intended? What if God knew the challenges that the church would face in its first thousand years so he organized the Roman Church to withstand all the troubles that they would face (thanks in no small part to Constantine)? What if God knew that there would be no force in Europe capable of stopping the Islamic invasion without a strong, centrally organized church?

At a family reunion it is nearly impossible to find two people to agree on everything, but you find everyone agreeing on their common connection. What if we find our unity in our common connection and purpose? We are a part of the same family heritage. We can each celebrate the ways in which God has brought the seed of faith from Jesus right down to us.

Heresy Alert

2008-03-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Stop reading right now if you don't want to risk the fires of hell . . .

Still with me? You are brave!

So, who has heard of the trinity? Raise you hands. Ok, that's most of you. Did you also know that the word 'trinity' doesn't show up anywhere in the Bible? The word was invented by one of the early leaders of the church to help describe how Jesus can be God and the Holy Spirit can be God and the Father can be God, but there's only one God.

Not much heresy yet, but hold on. I'm in class right now learning about the gospel of John. It starts off talking about how the Word and God are one in the same and Jesus is the Word. It pretty clearly states that Jesus=Word=God, but the next thing that a good, orthodox trinitarian will point out is that the Son is a different person of the trinity from the Father.

Here’s where I might be a little bit of a heretic: I’m not sure that I can affirm the separate personhood for each member of the trinity. That would make me a modalist or sabellian in some form (and they are all heretics in the classic sense). That means that I see Jesus incarnation as an expression of God and the Holy Spirit as a mode in which God acts, but that there is not necessarily a distinctive person at work in each of these cases.

The main argument against modalism is that Jesus died on the cross, yet the world did not cease to be. How could God be dead and in the grave and still continue to act to raise Jesus from the dead? My response to this: what’s the big deal? If God created the world with a Word, then how is it hard for us to accept that he can be dead? Is this any more difficult to accept than a convoluted explanation of God being three-persons with one essence?

What I like about modalism is that it allows a much easier identification of God’s presence and activity in the Old Testament. The Spirit of the LORD hovers over the waters in Genesis. The Angel (messenger, or word-bearer) of the LORD speaks to his people. We see that God has always interacted with his people in the manner that is best for his people.

Who wants to be a heretic with me?

Salmon Sperm LED's

2008-03-11T16:53:00.002-05:00

Yes, you read that correctly. I had to laugh out-loud when reading this story.

See, the problem with bioengineering isn't moral or ethical dilemmas, or even homicidal robo-droids enslaving humanity. It's that if you let researchers go wild, eventually they'll find a way to make LEDs out of salmon sperm, threatening the sanctity (and sperm-free-ness) of your entire gadget-based lifestyle.

What more can I say? Go and read the article if you want a few more chuckles.

Spring Ahead, Fall Back

2008-03-04T13:22:00.002-06:00

So some guy wrote a paper about Daylight Saving Time (DST). Recently a bunch of counties in Indiana decided to join the rest of the nation and observe DST. This made it possible to compare the energy usage with and with DST during the summer months. He found that DST "costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills."

Hey, let this serve as a reminder that DST starts at 2am on Sunday.

Basically (this means if you don't want to read the linked article, you will get the gist), DST was proposed originally by Ben Franklin to save candles in Paris. During WWII the US used DST to save some electricity, and during the oil crisis of the 1970's DST was brought back for the same reason. It has been an institution since. The only difference is the prevalence of air conditioning now. So in the hot summer months people get home to a house that is hotter and therefore use more AC.

It's good to know that the church doesn't have a monopoly on the continuation of anachronistic traditions that end up doing more harm than good.

OK who's next?

2008-03-02T16:13:00.003-06:00

So, Oklahoma Christian University upped the ante on ACU by offering not just a crummy phone, but a macbook as well. Good job, OC! When is this deal coming to Cascade College?

Does Harding feel left out yet?

When are churches going to start to offer this?

Diggity

2008-02-28T14:51:00.003-06:00

If I didn't already have a degree and most of a masters, I might consider a trip to Abilene. You see, ACU is going to "give" all the incoming freshmen their very own iPhone to enable them to be more productive in their studies. Whatever.

run it by a teenager first

2008-02-18T19:37:00.003-06:00

My wife has come up with the "run it by a teenager first" principle. The premise is that many companies have advertisements that have unintended jokes (usually of the crude nature). In order to avoid being the butt of jokes all over the internet, one ought to keep a teenager on retainer (w/ red bull and guitar hero) and run all ad campaigns by them first.

Case in point the new drug to help with acid reflux AcipHex. It seems like a good idea, you take the word 'acid' and ad a suffix that sounds all medicinal and efficacious - but what happens when you say that word aloud? Go ahead, try it.

On the TV Commercial they pronounced it: ass-UH-fex (ass effects).

Really? Really. That's what you want people to hear when they speak of your medicine?

Run it by a teenager first.

Begin the countdown

2008-02-17T19:01:00.002-06:00

Well, you can start counting down to your own demise at the hands of the machines. According to some guy the machines will be as smart as people by 2029. And since they are already stronger and don't need food or sleep . . . well, that will be pretty much the end of it all. I can only hope that I get to be in the matrix and learn Kung Fu.

Once Wise

2008-02-08T11:11:00.000-06:00

So in about an hour and a half I get to have my wisdom teeth taken out ('cause my head isn't big enough for all my teeth). I a little nervous because I've never had surgery before. I don't really know what to expect.

I hope that the loss of my teeth does not also spell the loss of any wisdom I may have accrued to this point, but if my blogging suddenly reduces in quality - you will know the reason.

See you on the other side.

Sweet!

2008-02-06T11:57:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I got a chance to hear Len Sweet present at George Fox Seminary about the impact of Islam on 21st century Christianity. It was a great and thought provoking discussion - I won't type out all three hours worth of the lecture, but I did want to highlight a few ideas and quotes that struck me.

"Christianity is a means, not an end; you worship your God, not your religion."

"In heaven there will be no Christians."

Just to explain a little of the context of the above quotes - He was pointing out how we have let our religion get between us and God. God is not terribly worried about the kind of Christians we are, but he is intimately interested to see the kind of human beings we will be. Jesus came to show us how to be the image bearers of God ought to live; he did not come to start a religious movement.

(I wish I could have gotten this quote exactly, but this is the general idea:)
If all cultures are morally equivalent, then all people do not have equal rights. If all people have equal rights, then all cultures are not morally equivalent.

The idea is that some people like to claim that we are all on different paths up the same mountain, but at the same time they wish to claim that all people have equal rights. It is logically impossible to affirm the moral equality of all worldviews (some of which claim that women or homosexuals or people of a different race are lesser individuals) and to affirm the value of equal human rights - it is either one or the other, not both.

I have more, but that's enough for one blog entry.

3d-ify your 2-d images

2008-01-30T09:10:00.000-06:00

So I found this cool site made by some Stanford student(s) that looks at a 2d photo and creates a 3d fly through. But too many other people found out about it too and his web servers melted (or something). It is back up now, though - check it out!

I made this

2008-01-29T21:01:00.000-06:00

I put this together for church the other day. What do you think?

No Olympics for you

2008-01-15T12:23:00.000-06:00

I'm really not sure what to do with this story.

"South African paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has been told he cannot compete in the Beijing Olympics because the artificial legs he uses give him an unfair advantage."

I can see both sides of the debate. On the one hand the dude has no legs. He has fewer muscles to generate energy with which to propel himself forward. How can that be an advantage?

On the other side, he's a cyborg. If he wins, then there might be a rash of sprinters cutting off their legs to be better.