Firefox - Tab Preview Extension

Here is an AWESOME extension that shows thumbnails of the unselected tabs in your Firefox 1.5 browser. If you are a tabbed browser fiend like I am, you will not want to live without this extension.

Andrew Petersen - The Far Country Podcast

I think God gives us our imagination to teach us about what his kingdom is going to look like, and what heaven is going to be like one day. - Andrew Petersen

Grassroots Music blog had an Andrew Petersen podcast where he discusses his new album, "The Far Country." This is Andrew's best album to date and the podcast is wonderful.

Because of Winn Dixie - Just The Sermon I Needed

I have seen two movies in recent weeks that have spoken to me about Christ and his relationship to the world and to the church on a very deep level.

The first was Rent. This movie captured the reality of the how the "least of these" discarded by the world and ignored by the church understand more about the love of 1 John than so many of us who claim the name of Christ, and study his words in their written form.

The second "Because of Winn-Dixie" I watched tonight while I was supposed to be writing my sermon for Sunday. The funny part is that though I got not one line of my sermon written, I got to see and hear the message I needed. I have NEVER cried so many times during one movie.

I have three quotes from the movie:

"I thought about how life was like a Litmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to seperate them out." - Opal

"Miss Franny said the problem here was people forgot how to share their saddness, but I think they forgot how to share their joy." - Opal

"But when I look at you
You are like a butterfly.
A catapillars dream to fly.
To bust out of this old cocoon
and dry your wings off...
Butterfly
go ahead and fly"
- Otis

I love to gospel of John so much. I am reading it again right now.
John 4:25-26 The (pagan adulterous Samaritan) woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."


The amazing part of the amazing love of Jesus is the first person he tells who he is, is an adulterous Samaritan Woman. He could have claimed his Lordship in Jerusalem at passover, but he did not. He could have declared he was the Immanuel to Nicodemus, Israels teacher, but to him he only spoke in prophecies. He could have saved his declaration, for a crowd of faithful ready to crown him king. Instead he opened the curtains of heaven and revealed his glory to she who was the absolute least in His culture.

I think today Jesus' revelation of his glory would not have been brodcast on the 700 Club. It would not have been featured as the Liberty University commencement adresss. It would have been saved for a crack whore whose body trembling from the pain of the AIDS ravaging her brokeness He was holding in His arms. From her pain, from her despair she is looking for hope, for comfort, for release from the suffering. She has longing eyes that are filled with all the saddness and all the brokeness of the 3 generations of dysfunction and abuse that have led her to this place. I see him look into those eyes, and lean his face close to hers and whisper into her ear the greatest message of hospice anyone has ever heard, "I am the Christ, and I am making all things new!"

I think Winn Dixie represented the "Love of Christ" I think Opal represented the church. When we are following the dog, will never meet a stranger he does not love. Each encounter is a friend waiting to be made, a life prepared to be shared, a litmus test of our learnings in Love. The church (at our best) is the butterfly, emerged from her cocoon, the hope of caterpillars, the paradox that is the balance between sweet and sorrow.

St. Claire - Patron of TiVo

st. claire
Originally uploaded by rocket_la.

I have long considered St. Augustine and St. Francis my patron saints, however today I am deeply considering the addition of a third saint, The recently cannonized St. Claire for her love and protection of all people who use and depend on TiVo for TV their way.

2 Saturdays Before Christmas

Ella and Anna Santa 2005

Click Photo For Full Size

Christmas Photos

To order the the girl's Christmas pictures goto the Smile Store

Password Incorrect!



Enter Password For Photos:







Wow!!! What a day the Bowman family had. We have been to two malls, waited in line to see Santa for an hour and a half, and printed 50 dark colored shirts front and back.

We started the day at Stratford to get the girls pictures made at Picture People, and decided to wait the hour to see the pics. While we were waiting we went to see a magician who was performing in Kohl's. My 4 year old got on stage twice and totally upstaged him both times. I being a performer myself was quite proud of her natural abilty to draw the crowds attention.

With our hour finally over we picked out our pictures (which you can see if you use the password above. ) and left to go work at the T-Shirt shop and allow our toddler her nap.

So our next adventure was Woodfield Mall to see Santa. This resulted in the one and a half wait that included a 25 minute non moving period while Santa went to "feed the reindeer." That was lovely!

On our way home from the mall my 4 year old suggested we play a game on our "Gamecube." I tried to argue that we did not have a Gamecube. She argued back that we did because she saw me pick up a Gamecube at Fry's Electronics and then mommy took her to see MP3 players. I think her little 4 year old mind was quite proud she had connected the dots and figured out a gift on her own.

So that is our crazy day. If you want to see the pictures send me an email and I will give you the password.

Lion Witch & The Wardrobe Review

A wonderful telling of C.S. Lewis's wonderful tale. Andrew Adamson did magnificent. The children were acted excellently, and Weta workshop came through once again with the magic of bringing fantasy alive in reality. One can say only WOW!!! My 4 year old, the youngest in the audience by at least 3 years remained capitivated and entertained. I was surprised to hear Alanis singing at the credits her Theme Song Wunderkind, and loved the little extra after the cast list.

I must say, it is WELL worth your ticket price to see this first Chronicle of Narnia.

Strange Christmas Products

A Cube MP3 player? One may ask why? All I can say is I have no clue, but boy does my consumeristic American leanings make me want one.

Lust of the eyes for me looks more like Tech toys...

Bought My Narnia Tickets

Friday night, 7:30 PM at the Streets of Woodfield theatre I, my wife, and my daughter will be seeing Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Thanks to our good friend Doris taking care of the baby we will be able to see this movie on opening night.

I am doing a happy dance

A War Quote To Bother My Family

So this one is for my dad and my brother.

Bushes' 'holiday' cards ring hollow for some - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "That is the same rationale offered by major retailers for generic holiday catalogues, and it is accepted by groups such as the National Council of Churches. 'I think it's more important to put Christ back into our war planning than into our Christmas cards,' said the council's general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman."

I will admit that, due to my brothers fabulous logic and reasoning, I have come around to accept the Iraq situation as a necesary evil, however as the pacifist I am I loved this quote.

Since I know you both disagree with this, I welcome more hearty debate in a few weeks when we gather for Christmas.

A Timely Quiz - Call Me Mr. Tumnus

Beliefnet is offering a quiz to identify your Narnia character. The seemed timely with this week's release of Lion With and the Wardrobe. So I came in a Mr. Tumnus Take the test and see your results.

We Are Dispossessed - The T-Shirt

I am going to do a print run of 10-12 shirts on this dispossessed theme. I need to record this feeling and making shirts is just how I do that. I am going to print mine and a few for friends I know will want one this evening, but I will leave the screen up for a few days if anyone else wants one. I can only afford to print no more than 15 so let me know before like next Tuesday when I will reclaim the screen.

Click on The Logo below to see it and the shirt sample big:

Just leave a comment with your size and then drop me an email with your address and I will send you one.

dispossessed:

I feel very dispossessed right now!

I am not satisfied at my church at ALL!!! I would even go so far as to say disatisfied. I now after a year, no longer feel it has even the potential to change. Young people will be scowled at, marginalized, and treated as an inconvience forever because they don't like the fact that children make noise. I will NEVER apologize for my children being children. They are good kids, even the 16 month old monster.

I don't feel I can go back to the old church. It is 35 minutes away and truthfully, though the people there are like family, I don't know I fit in there either. I am libertarian/anarchist social liberal and I never in 7 years really meshed with "God Save the Bush's Republicanism."

I think I want to plant a church. We will be called "the dispossed:" We will meet in a Warehouse with a locker room where the homeless can shower, it will have a kitchen where we can feed the hungry. It will be a place of refuge first, and an assembly place for "worship service" second.

It will not have a cool projector, stained glass, or an awesome sound system. We will not stream our services.

We will train people how to use computers, care for children, and improve lives.

We will be a place where people lower their cripple friends through the roof, for a chance to be healed by Jesus. (Allegorically I mean, I'm an evangelical conservative Christian afterall)

I am a dispossessed pilgrim.

More Sex Talk

My friend Dion Pugil had a great post on God and understanding him through our sexuality. You all might remember my own post on this subject from back in October.

God is pursuing us as the Lover pursues his bride. I will never forget the longing I had for my bride as we approached our wedding day, and that kind of passion deomstrates the awesome power of God's redemptive plans.

Please Be A Frappr w/ Me

It has been 1 month and all of 2 people have added themselves to my Frappr Map. This is giving me a complex.



If you love me, please sign on!

My Childhood Hero's

Shel Silverstein has traveld past where the sidewalk ends to where I don't know.
Jim Henson sits with the Lovers on the other side of the rainbow.
Fred Rogers won't be back when the day is new.
Captain Kangraoo has hopped away as all Kiwis do.
And Dr. Suess that silly man, won't be eating more Green eggs and ham.
Sadly today, and much to soon...
Stan Bearnstain left us with a Big Brown Bear that broke Baby Bird's balloon.

Stan Berenstain
- 1923-2005 -
Rest In Peace

Thanks to my good friend Rachel for emailing me the sad news.

Starved For Humanity

Mark O from Youth Specialities posted a link to this news article on his Blog.

It hurts me that we live in a culture so saturated with stuff that people find themselves this starved for human interaction. Wow.

Google-Mart

Imagine a world where Google does for the internet what Wal-Mart has done for the brick and mortar department store. That is what Robert Cringley calls Google-Mart.

I try not to overcome this blog with Tech articles, but I am an IT guy afterall.

I actually think there is a great spiritual application from this view of "Google's fututre." But that is for another day. Maybe tommorow or Friday since I am not at work. I guess we'll see.

Risk via Google Maps - a.k.a. Why AJAX is So Cool

Would you like to play Risk via Google Maps? Now you can thanks to the power of AJAX and the work of the "Techdiplomat"

He is working on a multiplayer online version you can play over the internet. Now that is pretty cool.

2 More Weeks Till Narnia

"We do not need more people writing Christian books. We need more Christians writing good books.'' - C.S. Lewis

The man practiced what he preached and wrote this amazing series of children's books three generations of kids have fallen in love with.

Everything I have seen in trailers and stills seems to me that Adamson has done an absolutely amazing job of capturing the story on film.

I am Soooooooooooooooo excited!!!

A Call To Christ's Church

Greg Taylor wrote on his blog about the House of Representatives passing a bill that will dessimate a significant portion of welfare in our next federal budget. He also quoted Jim Wallis, whom I read regularly and respect deeply as stating, "Budgets are moral documents that reflect what we care about."

I must state though that I VERY MUCH agree with Mr. Wallis on the nature of budgets but feel this is a personal application to my life and my family, not to my government. I disagree with his disappointment with the House. When government takes from the rich forcibly, that is not by definition charity, that is "socialist redistribution" and is an amoral humanistic ideology.

God always admonishes those who love and serve him to demonstrate their morality through social responsibilty. Social justice is the great calling of the church. It is the greatest calling of each Christ follower because it was repeatedly demosntrated through out Christ own ministry. James the brother of Jesus calls it "undefiled religion"

Aditionally, when we understand that Christ demonstrated the ultimate act of welfare on the cross pouring the wealth of salvation into the poverty of our spirit then we are even more convicted to participate in the practice of charity.

I think we as Christ followers should celebrate this challenge to be more focused on living out the call of the gospel. We must understand that "Budgets are moral documents" and ask ourselves, how does mine look?

A Special Message

I wanted to give a special message to each of you, my friends with 1s and 0s who share life with me in Cyberspace. I need you to enter your name in the box below and then hit submit to see the message.

Soul Survivor

My wife and I have VERY different tastes in music. I like Folk-Folk Rock- and Bluegrass and she likes Hip Hop and Crap.. uhh I mean rap :-)

Anyway, last night she saw a song on the Yahoo Music page I was on and wanted me to hear it. It was by an artist name Young Jeezy and the title was "Soul Survivor" It was a sad song and it reminded me of some friends I had back in high school that "rolled Vice Lords." But alas it was bed time and it was not my style of music so I went to bed intending to forget the song.

I have not been able to do that. It is the second verse that sticks with me:

Another day, another dolla (dolla)-same block, same nigga, same part, same green
I guess we got the same dreams (Ayy)
Or is it the same nightmares (nightmares)
We let the doves do it for us -- we don't cry tears (That's right)
Real niggaz don't budge
When Mail Man got his time he shot birds at the judge (Yeah)
I'm knee deep in the game
So when it's time to re-up, I'm knee deep in the cane (Damn)
Real talk, Look, I'm tellin' you mayne (tellin' you mayne)
If you get jammed up don't mention my name
Forgive me Lord--I know I aint livin' right
Gotta feed the block, niggaz starvin', they got appitites (Ayy)
And this is er'day, it never gets old (Old)
Thought I was a juvenile stuck to the G-Code (Yeah)
This aint a rap song, nigga this is my life (this is my life)
And if the hood was a battlefield then I'd earn stripes (Yeah)

It is the idea that he feels "trapped" in the lifestyle as the provider for his family and neighbors. I shudder at thoughts I have had, misunderstandings I have experienced. I mourn for a world where a person is burdened with this world of trouble.

I think this is why Jesus had such great compassion. I think he saw the whole picture, not a dualistic, "The business man is good and the gang banging thug is bad." instead Jesus saw the need for redemption in both these people. Jesus experienced life with people and loved them understanding what experiences they brought to the table.

I want to see the whole person, the whole heart, and the whole motivation before I jump to conclusions. I want to have compassion like Jesus had.

Freedom From Self Control

"To be subjected to God's will is not only to give Him priority
in our lives, it is but to give Him complete control." -- Avery D. Miller

Each morning I get an email from Heartlight with the quote of the day. Many mornings this quote flows past the eyes and into the fingers where I delete it and go on. Ocassionally though it really resonates with the particulars of my own thoughts and relationship with God.

Today was one such morning. It is easy for me to give God priority. He is my Lord and Savior, and I am unashamed to make decisions with his desires as my moral compass. However my will is a strong one, and although I love to consider his will for me, I am unwilling to surrender will to him.

Moving past the relationship stage with Christ where he is a top priority and into the stage where he assumes complete control is one of the most difficult processes I feel I have ever tried. I know that this surrender would bring a greater sense of joy and freedom both. However I cling to "something I don't really want" instead of taking the grace that comes from complete surrender.

I think I am mostly afraid. I am afraid of being called to a greater hunger to minister to the needs of the marginalized. I am afraid of getting my hands dirty in fields I never wanted to be in. I am afraid of the kind of compassion Christ demonstrated.

I say this as an honest confession: and it pains me, because I know that in every surrender there is greater freedom. I want that freedom. I want to be Free from my need to be in controll. I want to be free from self control and give myself completely to God control.

Prayers For My Grandmother

My grandmother is a Godly woman who raised a Christian household. So much of the positive in my life I owe to my mother's loving parenting which I know she learned from her mother. It is with a heavy heart that I ask you to pray for this fine woman.

This morning my cousin found my grandmother lying on the floor of her house. She was 93 degrees and uncouncious. She was rushed to the hospital where doctors began to work on her.

It is now several hours later and she is delirious and has no ability to identify any of her children or grandchildren who are present.

Please pray for my grandmother as the doctors attend to her. Please pray for healing, or a quick departure into the arms of her savior and the company of her husband.

INVISIBLE CHILDREN

Over on his blog, Patrick Mead reccomended this DVD called INVISIBLE CHILDREN. It is about the exploitation of children in the wars of the Sudan and Uganda.

I do not understand how a government can be so uncivil that they allow the abuse that is brought upon these children.

I am ordering the DVD for our Bible Study group top watch.

Online Quiz: Seem's Screwy Results

So I took this, what political affiliation are you test up on Quiz Farm.

You scored as Anarchism. <'Imunimaginative's Deviantart Page'> Anarchism 100% Socialist 58% Republican 33% Communism 33% Green 25% Democrat 25% Fascism 17% Nazi 0% What Political Party Do Your Beliefs Put You In? created with QuizFarm.com

My major problem is this is my number 1 and number 2 are polar opposites. This is Of course because they do not account for a "classic liberal" or libertarian leanings. So I have little stock in the test.

A Death At Dry Bones

A Post to read by a good friend who serves at Dry Bones in Denver on the loss of a young street kid last night. This is a reminder of the work laid out for those of us in Christ.

Today is 13 years since I gave up speed myself. I know the attraction these substances have to teens. I can only imagine the magnification of that desire in the lives of young kids who need to "numb the pain" of an abusive homelife. It seems appropraite for me to reflect on such tragedy and the tragedy of the human condition that results in this, on a day like today.

My Prayer:
"Thank you God, for claiming me, for redeeming me, for giving me the world and the people you gave me to find better paths, to make better choices, to lead me deeper into you. I pray that I would be available to be that person for young people in my life who are need of deliverance."

Humbled By Homelessness

Larry James director of Central Dallas Ministries had to following conversation posted on his blog. I am not usually one to copy and paste from another person's Blog, but instead I would normally just link to it. This piece was so humbling to me, I wanted to insure in addition to linking to the actual post, I had included the key portion of the text here.

"Larry," he said, "practically every homeless veteran who is a patient of mine has suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome before they entered the military."

He went on to explain that the reason most of the homeless vets signed up for military service was to escape their lives of horror and pain. Sexual and physical abuse, exsposure to traumatic events, extreme poverty, abandonment. . .the list of horrible circumstances went on and on.

"Once in the military, alcohol and drugs became very accessible. Using drugs and sex to treat the pain of early life was the common choice for the majority of these patients," he reported.

You must go read the entire post in it's context, becuase I believe it will cause you to repent of judgemental and misinformed attitudes you have had towards this class of our society.

I Like My Church With Cream and Sugar

One more post before I get back to the world of Coldfusion Code that is calling me back from today's lunch. Rick Presley wrote an article that I liked over at Ginkworld.

I am definitely looking for new expressions of my faith. I do think that a lot of people in the churches I have been a part practice Churchianity rather than Christianity. However I am not ready to write the whole mess off and de-tox from the "institutional church." I love attending Willow Creek with my daughter on Saturday night, since they are equipped with the staff to excite her about the message and story of the Bible. I like our little church that I am attending and plugged into because there are many people there who love God and are looking to apply that in their lives to a greater degree. I love experiences like inspiration Cafe or the Bridge I have participated in, because they allow me to be in a place serving in the ways I believe Jesus demonstrated.

I agree with Rick. We need to be in the place God has put us, and doing the things God has invited us to join him in doing. Whether at an Emergent Church or an Institutional Church that is what being Christ disciple is.

Deliverance from Some other Place

Esther 4:12-14 - If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. What's more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this?"

I have heard this passage preached many times in my life. The preacher has asked, "What place has God put you in to do his work?" I think it is a fair question to ask after reading Mordecai's response to Esther's refusal to assist in the deliverance of her people.

However as I was reading it today I was taken by the sentence before that oft preached passage about "such a time as this." When Mordecai holds onto his faith that, "deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place." Now that kind of faith humbles me.

It is easy to ask the question "What does God need me to being doing at this place in my life?" Since that appeals to my pride, and gives me a sense that I fill a void in God's grand design. Mordecai though has no void in his admonition to Esther. He understands that God's agenda is far above what I can participate in. God's agenda, the salvation and redemption of his people, is unaffected by my meager efforts to be a piece of it. God's agenda will be accomplished at large despite my participation either for against his efforts.

Mordecai's words to Esther and to me are, "You can be a part of what God is doing, not because God needs you, instead because God invites you alongside him" I desire to have the humilty to accept that my work, my part in God's plan is given to me only out of his grace to me. I think that when I embrace the humilty to not feel God needs my efforts, then I become free to simply love and serve God and love and serve people without an agenda.

Technoratti: What's My Blog Worth

Here's the deal. Technoratti did some math to figure out the value of people's Blog based on traffic and number of posts and junk like that. So anyway here are my results:

My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?

So Any buyers out there? I didn't think so :-)

Looking At The New Layout

You should be looking at the layout which will be an adaptation from the Traverse City Jump Start from over at Community MX. There is still alot of work to be done, but I decided to go ahead an publish so that you could actually read the Blog again.

I have never written my own Blogger template before so I am learning how to use the Blogger Tags as I go here. Tonight I will enable comments again, assuming I figuyre out how to do that. I will also change the picture of the woman standing on the shore of Lake Michigan to something that fits me better.

I hope you like the layout. Let me know when comments are renabled. Email me at kevin@kevinjbowman.com.ns and don't forget to remove the .ns from address.

- It is Now 12:55 and I have only a few minutes left of lunch... But I think Comments is working now.

- 1:01 PM - Item Pages was all screwed up... but I am hoping now it is cool.

The Bridge - A Service For Ex-Offenders

I went to "The Bridge" a ministry for ex-offenders run by Glen Fitz whom I met on the Ooze. There were two speakers in addition to Glen that I truly enjoyed. The first was Brad Bier from Bethel Community Church and the other was Steve Johnson from New Beginings In Christ. In addition to the speakers, an inmate from a work program in the city read a letter from his 8 year old son and spoke a little on the power of redemption.

Worship was lead by a few kids from the Jesus People.

I think this was a group where one could truly find the "least of these." I met a fellow who told Brad and I that it was "hard being a Christian and making an honest living." I could relate, not so much on the honest living, but it is hard to be a Christian. He asked, "I don't know how you guys do it everyday?" and I thought, "It is hard everyday!"

It is intresting, Jesus promises my burden is easy and my yoke is light. A fact that I trust and at times seem to understand. However, on a daily level, it just seems more like work. I can relate. Up on the Ooze today I commented that relationship w/ Christ is like a marriage in the fact that it takes a lot of work, daily commitment to the work in fact. However when I look at my life before marriage, and look at it now, my wife is an "ease" to my burden. Christ's power is that kind of easiness.

I think this was a very disjointed post. But that's me tonight. All in all, it was a great meeting and I'll be back.

Poker Chips For GEEEEEEE-SUS!!!!!

Mark O from Youth Specialties had the following link up on his site under the title "jesus junk of month"
You truly have to see it to believe it. This is really beyond even Test-a-mints. What will it be next... Praise Ponies?

My Blog Is Moving

I am going to move my blog this evening. Although the old kblog.thebowmans.us address will work indefinitely, the actual content is being moved to kblog.kevinjbowman.com. This is as I plan to integrate the blog with an overall Kevin J Bowman web page. I will soon be adding some new sections to the site:

sermons.kevinjbowman.com - A collection of PDF files of my previous preaching oppurtunites
audio.kevinjbowman.com - A collection of MP3 files of my previous preaching oppurtunites
drkaos.kevinjbowman.com - Information about the mad scientitst I perform in Kids Church
camp.kevinjbowman.com - Games, Encounters, and other material for Camp Usage.

These will be the inital sections of the site. I might add more later and it will be weeks before these sections are working also.

I am also planning a redesign of drkaos.com. It will be a pointer to the drkaos.kevinjbowman.com and will have a feel that more matches the overall theme of the complete site.

Which Book of the Bible Are You?

After seeing this post on mybrothers blog, I decdied to hop on over and take it. Frankly I put about as much faith in the results as I did with the "Classic Movie" But alas, for some reason I enjoy taking these little surveys, and it did actually kick out one of my absolute favorite books, so maybe that says something.


You are Romans.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong

The last 2 weeks have been spent planning this awesome retreat weekend for my wife. It is hard work being a stay at home mom and I knew she could really use a break. So, I wanted to organize a time she could meet a friend lunch, read a book, sleep in w/o being awakend for a bottle, and take a bubble bath.

I spoke to a good many people I trusted in the planning of this event. I talked to my mom, to our friend Susie, to my female coworkers, and even a few other men. I found out what these women, would want and what to do to make this weekend the biggest sucess.

I needed a hotel room for the event, so I went to Priceline and booked a room. I got a room at Hyatt Regency across the street from Woodfield Mall. I decorated the room with amenities (M&Ms - Hot Tamales - Mentos) to make the stay perfect.

I had a sitter come over and off we went to dinner where I would spring the surprise of my intricately designed weekend. I even had a friend who was going to come pack a bag and have it waiting inside the hotel room when she arrived.

We decided on Stir Crazy for our meal. Got a table, had our drinks delivered, and went to the cooking bar to watch our stir fry be prepared. We returned to the table and began to eat, signaling the predetermined time to spring the good news.

"I had a reason for doing this tonight, I have a surprise for you." I began as she quit eating and looked up at me. "I thought you could use a weekend away from the girls to relax so I got you a room next door." I explained as the expression on her face turned from anticipation to horror.

"NO!!!!" she adamentaly exclaimed. My mind began to race. The idea of no had never entered my thoughts. I had prepared for every need, for every detail except the possibilty of a no. What did she mean, "No" I was wondering?

"Absolutely not," she began to cry as I continued to sit stunned by this completely unanticipated reaction. "I like our weekends, I like our girls," she stated firmly with a crescendo into another, "NO!"

I was ABSOLUTELY unprepared. I was shell shocked, with no capable way of responding. I mean, I wasn't going to force her to accept my gift. All this work had been meant as a blessing, but it would be no blessing at all if she was compelled against her wishes. Thoughts, considerations, wonderings if there had been missteps in my anticipation of the event raced through my mind. Every possible senario of elation at the news of the retreat surfaced in mind as a contrat to the reality that was a sense of utter disgust rather than celebratory.

I can only imagine, that being the waitress must have been an intensely uncomfortable event. Moments before we were laughing, talking, and sharing a sense of goodwill in our interactions together and with her. Now, there was enough tension built up at the table to crush an aluminum can.

I assured her that I was not mad (which honestly I was not. Dumbfounded and confused yes, but mad no) We had the food boxed, and we went to the mall to walk around together. After getting coffee from Starbucks, and a walk down the halls and around Williams Sonoma we found ourselves sitting together on a bench.

At this point in time, an hour has passed since the idea was first introduced. When we first sit together, her decision was unchanged. However, after time, talking, dealing with emotions, and explaining she began to buy into the idea.

After about another 15-20 minutes she bought into the idea and had become excited. We went to the hotel, returned home together to get some things the bag packer had missed, took the sitter home and returned her to begin her time of relaxation, renewal, and reading of Blue Like Jazz.

We met each other to workout today at Lifetime and she assured me she was having a marvelous time. She had spent a LONG time on the phone with friends and family. She had slept in and had enjoyed a lunch with a friend with no children interupting.

She is such an amazing wonderful woman. I honored to be raising a family with her. I love her 10,000 times more today than when we wed 7 years ago. It has been a blessing to me, to be able to give her this time of retreat from our two little girls. I am glad she bought in, got excited, and is enjoying this time specially set aside for her.

Well, one of the 2 little children left in my care is screaming because she is VERY TRIED and wants to read Baby Einsten, "Mirror Me." So I am off.

Fellow husbands. If you should desire to plan a surprise weekend for your wife, please consider the scenario where she is not excited. That advice would have been appreciated in advanced.

Where Are You?

Jeff Slater added a Frapper Map up on his blog and I thought it was an AWESOME idea and ripped it off him and made one for my blog friends and family as well. So when you visit please add your location.



I am assuming this is a great application using AJAX. I love AJAX and want to learn it so bad. So far I have not figured out how to sell the training the boss, but as soon as I do... Man I'll totally be there. AJAX is the future of all programming I believe. I love what an amazing future we have. I want to work at Panera, Borders, or Caribe instead of in an office and AJAX is how that is going to happen.

But I digress - Please sign yourself into my Frapper Map.

RIck Warren and The Ladies Home Journal

As I came home from work yesterday, the Ladies Home Journal was lying on our kitchen counter. I picked it up and decided to leaf through the pages. I only read it for the ads. As I was looking at the cover, preparing to peruse this months onslaught of feminine print advertising I saw something that read like, "Rick Warren's Plan to Eliminate Poverty" - That may not be exactly right but you get the point. Seeing a MAJOR figure in the Christian community addressing such an amazing challenge in a secular forum caught my attention.

So I flipped to page 77 (I think) and read The P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

Planting Churches
Equipping Servant Leaders
Assisting the Poor
Caring for the Sick
Educating the Next Generation

As any good web-head I went online and hopped over to the Saddleback website to see if I could discover more. It was an absolutely useless website. But there was a small link at the top of the page, for saddlebackfamily.com and there at the top of the page was the word P.E.A.C.E.
This link lead me to the Offical Page for the P.E.A.C.E. initiative.

Seeing a large church like Saddleback attacking the problem of world hunger and AIDS was encouraging. One gets quite use to Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Patrick Buchanan who prostitute certain attributes of the moral standards of Christ for their own political gain. So seeing Rick Warren actually using his pulpit to practice "true religion." was awesome.

I say Kudos to Rick and Kay Warren. I say Kudos to Ladies Home Journal for running the article. I say Kudos to EVERYONE who does their part, whatever that is to help.

Our family supports 2 children in Choluteca, Honduras through Christian Relief Fund and the local mission work of Jarrod & Ally Brown. If you are doing nothing today, I would encourage you start with an organization like CRF or Children's Hope Chest which works in Eastern Europe. If you want to be more local here in the U.S. there is Dry Bones or Mission USA which both work with those who are marginalized by our culture.

James 1:27 - Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.

I Am "Easy Rider"

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Christian Communication - With Open Hearts

User FoxTrotDelta over at the Ooze wrote the following quote in a post in the "do you have an inner hippie thread"

When we begin to open up to each other from our hearts and communicate on that level we are entering a new dimension. You can feel it. It's sacred, or holy ground and we can feel very uneasy because our heads, or intellects, are having to give over their authority and they do their best to pull us back by making us feel guilty and inadequate etc. They don't give up easily! You see our intellects are really programmed and ruled over by the world we have been brought up in and that is not who we truly are. In practice it's the front we have been taught to put on to survive in this world.

Now I'm going to stick my neck out here and try to explain the spiritual significance of all this. I can vouch that I have tested these things and they work and they also line up perfectly with scripture but in a slightly different way to the normal Christian interpretation.

JC said, from memory, "Where two or three are gathered together in MY NAME there I am in the midst of them," or something like that. Now most Christians interpret this to mean that we literally tack his name on the end of our prayers etc. and he'll be there. Well anyone can do this if they wish but I think we find, that in most cases, it doesn't really work that well. It's like chanting a mantra!

In practice MY NAME means MY NATURE and when we enter into 'heart mode' we are entering into 'the holy of holies' into the presence of our Father. (We are the temples of God - they dwell in us!) So when we speak from there we speak in HIS NATURE and you all should know how much authority is behind that nature! He, Jesus, gave his nature over to us when he died.

All I can say is wow! That last paragraph would should be read at the begining of every meeting at church. We need to deintellectualize and be more open hearted as the entire church!

Soul Lift Video and Mp3

Back in August I spoke at Soul Lift in Chicago. At that time I blogged that I would post a video file that had been taken by one of the mothers at the youth rally. Well it only took me 3 months to get around to it. Yesterday when I was doing all the work for seeing how video and sound could work for our church website, I decided to take out the VHS and copy one of the sermons over to web format as well.

She was having techincal difficulties and there are chunks missing where the camera was not working, and she changed tape, or stuff like that. BUT, for the most part the talk is now available for download.

Convicted - 08/05 - Part 3
-Full Sermon - WMV Video - MP3 Audio
-4 Minute Sample - WMV Video - MP3 Audio

The full sermon is 40 minutes of video and audio and includes my teaching and a skit that was part of the service. The 4 minute sample however is the section that I most reccomend watching. It is only 4 minutes and I am sharing with the kids the gravity of the nature of the gospel.

An Input Test

Here is a WMV file of the Little Einsteins Intro. I place it here merely to show the difference in input from the camera's own lens and using it merely as a video encoder. As you can see, if we were to set up a nice camera with some good pan and tilt, and then use the input coming straight off the board, we could get a very nice video, and a very nice audio file for our new church website.

Church In Mp4

John Wright the canidate from Stockton CA for our pulpit position was at church this morning for his second interview. I recorded the service using a Panasonic SV-AV30.

There are 3 versions to download here. Version 1 is the full 113 MB service. All 1 hour and 10 minutes of it. The camera was in the back of the room and so the video is basically useless. Version 2 is like a 5 minute sample of the sermon so you can see it without commiting to the whole service. Version 3 is an MP3 audio file you can download and put on your Ipod. It is only the sermon.

I am also going to post a few files after small group tonight that are made with a real video camera and then just encoded with the panasonic. They are from the youth rally I spoke at at CD back the end of July. It is being encoded right now and we are leaving.

Saved - A Movie About Sanctification - Sort Of!

Let's talk about "Saved". This is an irrevernet sacreligious movie that is written by Brian Danely, produced by Michael Stipe of R.E.M. and stars Mandy Moore, Mary Louise-Parker, Macaulay Culkin and Jena Malone. In fact it is so "offensive" I believe EVERY Christian needs to see this movie. I bought it and you are welcome to borrow it if you live here in the area. This is a movie about a star pupil at a Christian Highschool who gets pregnant and therefore becomes the Pariah of the institution. She finds solace in the only 2 non-Christians at the school, being they are the only two with a heart available to love a person in her condition.

By the end of the movie the infidels have been expelled after being framed by the "star" Christian of the school, the father of pregnant teen's baby has returned with his boyfriend, and an affair between the school's pastor and the pregnant teen's mom has been exposed. In the final moments after the baby's delivery the entire bunch of "wastes" are in the hospital room sharing precious community.

You know in your heart, if you are honest, that in this whole crowd of characters Jesus would have loved the losers in the hospital room over the "pharisee" crowd that was in the school. Yet the crowd at the school is how "we" appear to the world. If we are not genuine about our own struggles, and our own ongoing growth in Sanctification we come off as judgemental and self righteous. We must remember that we have been clothed in righteousness and called to be sanctified in our LOVE relationships with people.

The movie got me onto my soap box.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
(9)Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual (10) offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The plank in the church's eye is that we treat verse 9 as if it is of a much greater importance than verse 10. The church so often seems an institution of "American idealism" that exists to encourage greed by promoting many fiscally succesful rather than spiritually successful people to the position of elder. So many in our fellowships leave the sins of their past only to adopt gossip and slander as a more righteous form of self indulgence. Our plank, that the world see far more clearly than we see ourselves, is that we do not embrace the "Love of Christ." Greed and slander, the most prevelant sins in the American church, stand as the polar opposisite of Christ love. This makes us look like the ineffective, out of touch, pharisees of the movie.

As we are sanctified we are more FREE to love people trapped in sin. We should not retreat from these people, until they embrace righteousness, instead we should embrace them in their unrighteousness so that they can see the dynamic amazing love Christ demonstrated in his physical life. The Christian life is not the avoidance of people caught in sin, but instead the willingness to love and be with these people while having the freedom to not be caught in their destructive sin cycles. That is the goal we are being sanctified to.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Great Sex

I want to plan a mens retreat, but I don't think the elders at my church will approve it. It is called "The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Great Sex."

I think that men understand the excitement, the thrill, and the enjoyment of great sex. I think that every bit of the passion of great sex is found in God's longing to redeem his people. I think it is SUCH a perfect illustration for explaining this passion in a way that is relevant to lukewarm pseduo-spiritual men to enable them to embrace this passion and become passionate about being involved in going the direction God is going..

Here are my topics for the weekend: (They are very rough right now and need to be hashed out much more before I formally submit this to anyone for approval and planning. Any comments appreciated.)

Flirting and Courtship: God's passion to know his Lover.
Spiritual Foreplay: How God Pursue's the individual.
The Big O: The Perfection of Salvation.
Improved Intimacy: How Sanctification makes relationship w/ God Better
7 Year Itch: Being Robbed by Carnal Christianity
Kiss and Tell: The exciting side of evangelism

I feel so much like most the men in my church see going as a chore. There is no "spark" or "passion" in their understanding of God. So any other ideas for men to understand the passion God has to redeem his people, please let me hear them.

Blue Like Jazz

I could see Satan lashing out on the earth like a madman, setting tribes against each other in Rwanda, whispering in men's ears in the Congo, so that they rape rather than defend their women. Satan is at work in the Cults of the Third World, the economic chaos in Argentina,and the corporate driven greed of American corporate executives.
I lay there under the stars and thought of what a great respnsibility it is to be human. I am human because God made me. I experience suffering and temptation because mankind chose to follow Satan. God is reaching out to rescue me. I am learning to trust him, learning to live by His precepts that I might be preserved.
Donald Miller - Blue Like Jazz - Chapter 9 Pg. 101

Ok, so I know I am rather passe and Don Miller "rage" was like a year or 2 years ago, and now I just look like a wannabe follower, jumping on the Don Miller bandwagon. I probably should not even quote a guy who preaches as the opening act for Jars of Clay since that means he is "cool" and I like to think myself an independent- nonconformist- Live on the Edge, James Dean Christian :-) but WOW!!!! what an amazing book this has been. There is a reason this guy is cool!!! If (for those of you uncool like me) you have not read this book already and the quote above did not convince you to read this book itself, please consider this my hearty reccomendation!

A P.S. For My "libertarian" and "republican" friends - Don Miller is a socialist. An although I am a social liberal, I believe social liberalism is the responsibilty of individuals. I think socialist government, robs the church and individuals of social responsibilty and steals the power of the social gospel. This man has amazing thoughts on God, please look around his socialist views, and see that his heart is pure and right, even if his politics are askew.

A somewhat mean P.P.S. for my social conservative readers - You're Wrong! It is the God designed responsibilty of the rich to protect and to serve the poor. Christianity should be the MOST humanitarian organization on earth. We are called individually, and corporately to be servants to the disenfranchised of the world. If you disagree, please see the next post, that I hope will have an MP3 of my sermon today very soon.

Fields of The Fatherless

Here is the PDF of my sermon for tommorow. It is based on a book by the same name by C. Thomas Davis. This book and the thoughts presented in the sermon are so much based on the direction God has been directing my life recently. I am coming to more and more understand that this is the very heart of God.

I have been a social liberal for years, but the more I understand God, the more I understand that the heart of his message is humanitarinism. Salvation is the ultimate act of humanitarianism. We reflect that by involving ourselves in the live's of people. We reflect that by a commitment to the widow, the orphan, and the alien. We reflect that by a commitment to the helpless, the hopeless, and the disenfranchised.

I hope to have an MP3 here soon.

A List Of Tommorow's Technologies

This is a list of companies that have been nominated for an award for upcoming video, and other on demand delivery services. Innovation is cool, and seeing the companies that are innovating today to shape the landscape of tommorow is WAY cool.

Windows Vista - Screen Shots

For those of you who like myself having been salivating over the relase of Windows Longhorn, which is now called Windows Vista, you have only a few more months to wait to until this notroious vaporware comes into true existence.

If you can't wait those few months, PC Magazine has post 25 screen shots from an early Alpha they were sent by the Big Green over in Redmond.

Also, on an illegal note, if anyone is a MSDN subscriber and wants to get me a Beta copy, I will be ever so grateful :-)

MATH: Giving Nerds something to Do

This is a cool little Flash Animation sent out by the Linky Dinky guys. Notice that all possible variable solutions are covered by the same object:

10 - 1 =9
11-2 = 9
12-3=9
13-4=9
etc.

33-6=27
34-7=27
35-8=27
etc.

All 2 digit numbers when added together and subtracted become divisble by 9.

Kewl Huh?

Mopping McDonalds For Jesus

This is from a post called High Noon Part Three over at Patrick Meads Blog:

Or the time that a single mother who struggled against all odds to raise her children ran up against school regulations and an uncaring employer. She wanted to be at her kids' school for the parent teacher conferences but her employer -- a manager at McDonalds -- wouldn't give her the night off. The elders volunteered to go to the conferences in her place but the school wouldn't allow it. State law said only the parent or legal guardian had the right to confidential info about the child (understandable). One of our elders, who owned stores all over the state and was a very well to do man, went to the McDonalds manager and asked him personally to release the woman for that evening. When the manager refused, our elder volunteered to work in her place. He came in three nights in a row to learn her job and then worked that night for her -- for free. By the end of the week the entire town had heard about it. It's hard not to notice when a wealthy man is working at McDonalds mopping floors and cleaning toilets... without a word of complaint.

NOW THAT IS CHRISTIANITY. That is being Jesus! That is deomstrating what it means to be a servant. I need to get out and get uncomfortable with some junk like that. If I had been the elder I'd have done the easy thing and hired her at one of my places, but no he took the role of the servant, and Christ was glorified. I LOVE IT!!!!

The New Hair Pics

Picture 1 of the new Hair Color


Picture 2 of the new Hair Color


My cool new Trendy Profile Pic

My New Hair Color

Here is the top of my head while the Orange Dye was in.

Here is Whit adding the second tube of colored mousse, after I had shaved my beard.
Here is the top of the head as I waited for Orange to set.

The finished product photo will be coming in the next post.

Thoughts On God's Goodness

I am posting some thoughts I posted to a bulletin board over at The Ooze. It was reccomended to me by a fellow named Calvin I met at camp this weekend.

My thoughts are in response to the entire thread called "I Can't See How God Is Good" but most importantly this quote,

"Often I can't even experience love because my fallenness is so heavy upon me."

Here is my response:

I think this is the crux of the entire thread. One camp argues that God can not be good because he allowed evil in the world. He allowed the fall and therefore since I am fallen I can not "experience love" and therefore God can not be good.

Allow me to reword and you tell me if my rewording is valid. "God made me to love, and to desire love, yet I can not experience what I was made by him to experience, therefore he is not good."

I am in the other camp. The camp that says God is good because by the power of incarnation I can be RESTORED to the ability to love again. The incarnation is about FREEDOM.

I beleive we all agree that we were created for Love, Life, and Peace. We were givent the choice to choose these things we were created for, or to choose to our own desires.

The choice of the Fall unilatterally destroyed all three of the reasons we were created for. Now we had the result which was fear, seperation, and death. We call the results of dealing with these consequences evil. They are not evil, instead they are as the old cliche goes, "the abscence of God"

Now in the act of incarnation, culminating at the events of the cross God proved his own goodness in choosing to experience fear, seperation, and death himself so that we could be restored to the freedoms that we were created for, which were Love, Life, and Peace.

The alternative here is not a God who did not allow evil, instead it is a God who did not allow free will. Since God did allow freewill his goodness is not proved by the lack of evil, but instead by the gift of incarnation.

What do we value?

I just don't understand how a church can feel that they need more young families and yet be SOOOOOOOOO bad at the subject of nursery care.

Seriously, I am so close to stopping attending on Wed night. Like tonight, the preschool teacher was late and so I immediately said I'd take the preschoolers, so who has the nursery?

No one had the nursery! That's right So I had the preschoolers I was trying to teach and my toddler I was trying to care for. I love teaching, and it was no problem for me to fill in, BUTTTTTTTTTT AGAIN I would like some assitance with the baby.

My biggest issue here and the reason I bring it up over and over is I am treated like a second class citizen because I need child care so I can serve. How much more of a burden is the seeker going to be treated like who just wants infant care so he cam hear the gospel message.

Rockford Christian Camp Columbus Day

I have now completed my first weekend as the actual director of a camp session. It was blessed experience. I feel it went well, I believe that the teens were blessed and had a great deal of fun.

We had an "Amazing Race" and a Amazing Sunday Night Campfire. We had a torch light communion, and a glow light ultimate game. We had "Romans and Christians" and a punk band called "Fighting Chance." We had hoodies for warmth and near freezing temps to make them strangely inadequate.

It was a great session. We had two new youth groups Cardinal Drive and Moline and were blessed by both.

Patrick, Rob, and Chris were all outstanding. The quality they demonstrated to the teens was far greater than the time I left them to prepare once I got my shcedule set.

We had old faithful counselors like Tim Miller, Whitney Jinkerson, Greg Peck, and Nichole Flatt. Some new faithful counselors named Cindy Perez and Ken Lake. Albert Hunt was able to move up from camper to counselor. A few others we were able to round up to assist us with this session, including 4 from Rochester College that were such a blessing to the weekend.

I am so thankful to Betty Foss for filling in at the last minute as Nurse. I am so thankful to Sid Fryer for coming out and making sure that all the "physical needs of A/V and Fires were met. I am abundantly thankful to Lori and Cliff Plummer who were there to ensure we ate, and in their amazing way found time to serve and be among the kids despite having the most taxing job there.

I would be amiss to not mention my wife, who came out to get all Kevin's crap jobs. She did them with grace despite the fact that they always seem to land on her. I love her so much. She cleans up and helps in the background to make me come through as shining and brilliant in the spotlight.

I could not have asked for a better first session as a director. I had 0 behavior problems. Weather though cold was never crippling. My staff was better than one could ask for with the disorganized mess I am at the helm. We were rarely on schedule, but always seemed to get everything done we wanted to.

To everyone who came out and served, and to all the teens who came out to be a part of it, I say thank you. God was among us, and I am not ashamed!!!

"Oh No, He's Gonna Curse Me Out Again"

I had a person say this to me today after they called me back from a previous call where I was very upset by their customer service.

This company canceled my Tuesday appointment and then called at 2:30 this afternoon to cancel my Thursday morning appointment. They wanted to reschedule for NEXT wednesday morning. I was upset and I refused to settle the matter with an appointment a week out.

I was firm, but respectful. I NEVER raised my voice and never swore. I must admit I was quite surprised when the caller, who thought she had sent her techs to the wrong address due to my boss' name rather than mine being on the order, implied that I had treated her inappropraitely.

I am sitting here debating, is there a way to be firm, and not make the other person feel disrepected?

RCC Columbus Day Retreat

So after 9 years of serving on various staff positions at Rockford Christian Camp the board of directors has given me my FIRST session as director. Starting tommorow we will attempt to TOP the fun and spiritual impact of every session there has been before.

Allow me to share some highlights:

Friday Night: The Comedy Club
I am bringing with me a Brad Stine DVD called "A Conservative Unleashed" and we are turning our Mess Hall into a Comedy Club. Low light, Rootbeer Floats and Chocolate Cigars in a pine and glass humidore are all among the ideas I have so far. This will be an hour for the kids to visit and laugh.

Saturday Speakers: Patrick Odum and Rob Carris
Without bringing in speakers of great cost I could not imagine a better speaking team than these two. Both are great Godly men and wonderful at expressing that to teens. I love both of these guys a great deal and they will be a real blessing to our session.

Saturday Night: Meditation Walk and Midnight Communion
Starting at about 10:30 PM the teens will go on a meditative walk written by Tim Miller. The walk will conclude at a dark unlit camp fire. There will be torches, a rustic table, a video, and hot unleavened bread for our candlelight communion.

Sunday Evening: A NEW Romans and Christians
At the request of the teens we will be playing a new variation on Romans and Christians. Our hope is that the teens will be less knowledgeable about who is who. This should make a great game.

These are a few of the activity highlights. We will also have sweatshirts for the camp shirt and for the warmth which should be a highlight for the teens as the evening temps are going to be in the mid to high 30s.

I would ask for your prayers. Pray for impact and protection over the teens. Pray that God will be honored and Christ will be more real as we worship and teach together as a group. We asks for your prayers.

Bob Parsons - My Favorite Humanist ( I think)

I like Bob Parsons alot. He seems to be a very well centered person. I read his blog a lot and have always been impressed with the way he thinks through a situation. In this post he points out a reality we all need to relaize. The reality that we are all imperfect.

I think that if more people in the church showed the "realism" that Mr. Parson's does so regularly on his blog many people would be much more attracted to Christ. I think that Christ's attitude was much more like Bob's than Jerry's or Pat's. I do disagree with the way he objectifies women, yet he seems to have class and character even in that issue.

I encourage you to check out his stuff and apply it to your thinking, yes you will need to "chew up the meat and spit out the bones" but there is a lot of great meat there.

Google - Sun - My Comments

I have held my comments on this annoucement for days now waiting to see what would materialize before I left my mark. I must say, I was going to praise Google for teaming up with Sun to bring us GOffice or office.google.com that would be based on the StarOffice code but would be a completely web based application. I was going to shout and laud the new day of dumb terminals. This "Office" annoucement and Google San Francisco along with the Google National Wi-Fi rumor seems to to be the usher for the day when my entire "My Documents" is all web based. I would much rather pay a small fee a month ($10 per family member per month seems fair) to have all my 4-6 GB of stuff safe and accessebile no matter where I am without regard for OS or Hardware

Imagine, I am at a customer, he needs a doc I did not bring, jump on GOffice and hand it over. I am church and forgot the Powerpoint, jump on GOffice and run it right there through the net. Imagine, my video files stream down to me. My pictures always available to run as a slide show from anywhere. The Java side promising unfettered access depite my desktop OS.

I want a web based information world. Although Seth Jayson makes some good points in this Motley Fool Article. I think that this is the future we need to go into. I was expecting that in todays annoucement. So mind you I was severly let down.

My comments to Google or GoDaddy (the only 2 companies I think have the flare, innovation and capital, to pull it off) I want my Office Suite and My Documents Online.

(Aside - You may note that I mention GoDaddy and they offer Online File Folder which is a GREAT PRODUCT but it still not what I am talking about here. The problems with Online File Folder is my documents are basically just "backed up to them" and even with the Sync tool. If I do not put them in the one particular folder it does not sync them. GoDaddy's System needs to at least make the sync tool "index and search" for all new documents of file types I assign and copy them at every change. This would be a great step until the Web is the PRIMARY housing of My Documents both the files themselves and the editor to manipulate them.)

I Confess - I Have Been Unfaithful

Proverbs 26:11 - As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

Anyone who would give up fellowship with God for the temporary fading moment of happiness brought about by sin is a fool. My walk with God has SHONE at times in my life. By the grace and God and the power of the Holy Spirirt Greed, Sexual Idolatry, and Pride have been completely eliminated from my radar screen for long periods of time. Yet, it is apparent to me that I am the one who behaves like the dog. I play the fool and surrender the felowship that peace with God brings as a trade-in for puke.

I become consumed with all the things again and again to my folly. They bring me worries, guilt, and seperation. Yet, half digested, these chucks of my past woo me back to them. I choose to live as the adulterous playmate rather than the radiant white bride awaiting the grooms arrival. I choose the bitter root of slavery rather than the sweet living water of the eternal vine.

A Prayer Of Confession and Repentance

Lord God,

I know you are a jealous God. I know your throne is sovereign and you are worthy of undivided devotion. I know my mind , body and soul were made to love you exclusively.

I know that I have been unfaithful to you. I have been lukewarm and sin ridden en mass. I know that you are the sole giver of peace, relationship, and life. I confess that I have sought these things in false pursuits. I repent of my profane infatuations and commit to depend on your Holy Spirit as my strength.

I know that you have clothed me in radiance, and seated me at your right hand. I have lived as a slave to an old man when you have raised me as a new man, a slave to righteousness. I have taken for granted your death, and your redemption. I repent of my godless passions and turn my sentiments to love and reverence for your alone.

You alone are God.

Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage

I read Linky & Dinky as a guilty indugence and today was quite impressed by this site that they were reccomending.
It seems that by adding between 2 and 3 TBS of Acetone to your gas tank (per 10 ga) you can increase your fuel effiency by as much as 30%-35%

Here is a second site with the same reccomendation. I am not a scientist by any stretch of the imaginatgion, but if this is true I feel very cheated by the Big Oil companies. I want to shop at the place that will premix my acetone for me if this is legit.

This is the ORIGINAL SITE that deals with this research. It is by the scientist who discovered the methodology.

FEMA wants to reimburse churches

If this were an award site the next sentence would go something like this, "The award for worst decision of the year goes to... the American churches for accepting government aide in the wake of Hurricane Katrina"

Read Article Here

I remember learning in college, and have stated on this blog before, that is was Plato who made the point that the center of any society will be the organization within that culture responsible for the care of the poorest and weakest. Traditonally American cultured was structured so that the church would supply that need. This meant that the church remained the center of American society for nearly the first 200 years of it's existence. However in the mid 1950s as the church became more affluent, more self centered, and less focused practicing "true religion" the government came in and filled the void left by the church in caring for the poorest and wekest of society and thus established itself rather than the church as the center of society. Once established as the center of society, the secularist within the government have been able to marginallize any influence the church holds within culture. Basically the church when it stopped caring for the poor ceased to have a public voice.

Fast forward 50 years to 2005 and the tragedy we have experienced in the Gulf States. The church came out strong and powerful. Aide was sent from thousands of churches targeted in ways that no government organization had the abilty to achieve. The church had a mission and many locally and nationally responded exactly as the church should. Servianthood and sacrifice, rather than doctrine and slef help, had become the messages of America's pulpits. The church the last few weeks has been glowing.

HOWEVER, now FEMA is saying, "thanks for helping out, let us reimburse you for your costs." The effective church will be marginalized and forced to once again take it's place on the sidelines as society's center pays for it's blunder. DO NOT TAKE THIS MONEY. This is Judas' 30 pieces of silver. This is blackmail, urging the church to "Go back to your back seat, resume your normal social schedules, and we'll all pretend this never happend."

I pray that we will be pushed forward with a "true religion" mission rather than urged back with a "Money lovers" payoff. We must not buy into this idea that we need reimbursed because we were doing the governments work. Instead we must go forward humbly and repentantly for letting the government do our work for FAR TO LONG!

Cardinal Drive - Let's Build Bridges

OH, I can not believe this!!! We are at a meeting at our church and one of our elders wife's asked, "What can we do to build bridges and relationships?" I find this SOOOOO unbelievable. Cardinal Drive church does not participate in any area activities. She is saying, "what can we do to make other area churches come to our events even though we do not participate in any area wide events?" West Chicago, Northwest, West Suburban, Lakeview, Naperville, North Park and Rockford all fellowship together just fine. I think Cardinal Drive could choose to be more connected by attending and fellowshipping with the other area events.

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Lost - People With To Much Free Time

Check out this site. This guy a CRAZY amount of time on his hands. I swear he could cure cancer witht the time he spent developing the content of this site. It is worth noting, if only for noting the depth of his crazy obsession.

I love Lost and am very intrested in the significance of the numbers. This person goes WAYYYYYYYYYY beyond that though. It is scary.

Oh well, it is pretty cool to read though if you are a Lost fan.

One other is this site which shows the Lat Long of the island using the numbers.

Projector Working Via Ethernet

I am delighted to announce that a small group of us stayed at the church last night working on getting the projector working. As you can see, it was a SUCESS!!!! That is my computer screen connected to a mounted projector and being sent via erhernet from the sound both in the back.

By Sunday we will have a computer and a RF remote that can be used anywhere in the auditorium.

Woo Hoo!!!!

4 8 15 16 23 42 - Lost Is Back

Random Thoughts from Season 2 Episode 1 - No meaning just random observations.

Make Your Own Kind OF Music is a Carpenters song from 1971

108 - 168 - 42 on the Walls?

A House on Fire - The Word Sick

http://www.oceanicflight815.com/

Ella Sings Undignifed

Matt Redman is possibly the best Worship writer out there today. He has an abilty to be both intimate with God and also fun and exciting in our praise to the Almighty king. Ella is much more fan of his "fun and exciting stuff." She is a particular fan of Undignified. Here is a little video of us in an undiginifed duet (with apologies to Mr. Redman - this is what the Word calls "Perfect Praise")

3GP Video Viewing Tutorial

All videos on this site are captured using my Palm Treo 650. They are in the 3GP format and must be treated with a little TLC to download and play on your computer. Follow these simple steps to download and watch the vieo on your computer.

Step 1: Download The File By Clicking on The Link In The Post.
Step 2: Double Click the file and Extract the Contents of The Zip Folder
Step 3: After Ensuring Apple Quicktime or the Quicktime Alternative is installed on your computer double click the extracted file.
Step 4: In the File Association Window choose "Select Program" and choose Quicktime.

At this point the file will play without a hitch. If you choose "Always use this program to open this file type" then you will not need to select program on future videos.

Why I Love Camp

As many of you who know me know, I am at camp everytime the gates of RCC open and teens descend. I LOVE camp. It is a place of the joy of fellowship and the worship of God.

I have 2 videos from our church camp retreat this weekend. The first video is Dawn Booth dancing in celebration in a late night card session. This is the type of fellowship one sees at camp. The second video is a song from our morning worship.

This is the great stuff that makes camp AWESOME!!!

Home Media - Galleon Issue

I had a problem with my Home Media Option on my Bedroom TiVo while switching from the Galleon IPod player to ABC's Lost. As you can see from the video, I am watching Lost but the Audio is still playing from Galleon. What a Bizzare occurence.

I had to go back into Home Media Application to actually STOP the playing of the music. It was VERY weird.

Cindy Sheehan - Philosopher and Maroon

Cindy Sheehan - It is a Christ-like principal to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless. That's what is happening in Algiers and other places in Louisiana…but by the people of America, not the so-called "Christians" in charge. If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened.

Who are the "people of America?" - Did you ever think that these include Christians and Churches? Did you ever think that is the way civilized people SHOULD respond? The response of the people of America is not a blame against our government, it is a salute to our citzenry. It is a challenge to a LESS GOVERNMENT CENTRIC solution, since it is the people who are "freely" responding in the face of this tragedy.

How would the president "reading the words of Christ" prevented this devistation? - Does she imply that the Hurricane was a judgment against this administration? Is there a section in the Lord's teaching on Sub-Sea-Level Construction strategies? Is she saying another President (John Kerry?)could have prayed to "turn back the tide" of this Hurricane?

No, I think she is in fact convicted by her own irrelevance in the magnitude of this tragedy and is simply trying to philosophize for her fellow maroons who somehow think that she has something to say.

Blackberry Vs. Everybody Else

This Newsweek article asks the questions, "Can Blackberry survive against it's competion?" The question though valid is easily answered with only 2 letters... "No!!!" I have used a Blackberry from T-Mobile, 2 Blackberry devices from Nextel, and currently have a Palm Treo from Cingular. I easily can say that I would NEVER go back to Blackberry.

The addtional Palm Apps, the SD Card and the camera that all come in the Treo device make the Blackberry an antiquated and useless early attempt at the world of mobile email. We owe an honor to Blackberry for showing us the need, but we owe our business to Palm One for making it great!!!

Church Retreat At Fallhall Glenn

We went the the Family Retreat with Cardinal Drive at Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp this weekend. It was great retreat and Christi and I were honored to meet and spend time with Damen and Melody Parker, the guest speaker at the retreat. Damen is minister at New Life Church of Christ, an inner city church plant in Abilene, Texas. We share some of the same passions and goals about the missional church.

A Bad 2 Hours

4:30 PM - Christi and I are in our bedroom talking and getting ready to leave for small group and we hear a blood curdling scream from the living room. I go into the living room to find Anna crying by the rocker, she has a HUGE gash on her leg.

4:45 PM - As I am getting 2 sippies out of the truck we are driving I hear another scream behind me. As I climb out of the truck I see Anna face planted at the bottom of our porch lying in the gravel limestone. Her face was all bruised and scratched up. She looks like she was on the losing end of a bad bar fight.

6:10PM - By this time we have arrived at our friends house and we are having small group when we here a BAM followed by several small kthuds, culminating in another bout of screaming. At this point she has pulled a shelf full of nick nacks over onto herself. The shelf is lying on her head when we arrive a few seconds after the event.

So my poor little baby girl has a gash, a scratched up swollen face and big knot on her little forehead. Let me tell you, it was a bad 2 hours!!!

Lead Minister Opening

Last night on was on Wineskins Magazine site and I found an ad for the Lead Minister Opening at the Troy Church of Christ in Troy, MI.

The ad is awesome, and I feel more Churches need to embrace the energy and exuberance this church seems to have in their minister search.

AD TEXT: A Theologically open and Progressive church in Troy, MI, a Multi-Cultural Suburb of Detroit, which practices Social and Gender Inclusion, seeks a Lead Minister who is a Visionary and has a Pastoral Outlook. The person we prayerfully seek, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, should be a Gifted Speaker who inspires the church to reach today’s Post-Modern culture for Christ communicating the Eternal Truth of Scripture in Prophetic and Relevant ways to the Un-churched. If you feel called to this position, and wish to be considered, we require that you send your resume, with a recorded message and your salary requirements.

This says, we are not looking for a person who meets the corporate profile our commitee has decided to assemble. This says, we are open to the Holy Spirit's leading and we are prepared to do AWESOME things for the kingdom of God. Now myself, that is the kind of Church I want to preach for.

I am not applying for the position, since I am not looking for a job, but it is definitely a church I would want on my list if I was.