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