Tag: Four Things

...catch my drift...: Tag: Four Things
was posted by KIngsjoy over on his blog and so I decided to get in on the game:

Four Things about me:

Four Jobs I've had:

Movie Theatre Ticket Taker
Head Cook
Youth & Children's Minister
IT Director

Four Movies I could watch on repeat:

Shawshank Redemption
Princess Bride
12 Monkeys
Because of Winn Dixie

Four TV Shows I love:

Sports Night (cancelled)
Lost
How I Met Your Mother
Little Einsteins (I know it is for preschoolers but It is really great!)


Four Vacation spots:

Austria
London
My Parents In St. Louis
Orlando


Four Foods I would eat any time:

Carne Asada Tacos
MY Chicken Strifry
Maggianos Pasta
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Four Changes I'd make to my house:

Hardwood Flooring
Bigger Kitchen
Second Bathroom
Master Bathroom

Four Beers I like:

I'm wheat intolerant... No Beer!

EDIT: I added this after Sid added it to his list
4 Cars:
1953 Chevy 3100 Truck (Bright Orange)
1942 Cadillac FLeetwood (Black)
2006 Mercedes Benz G-Class (Goldish Brown)
1975 VW Rabbitt (Yellow)
(Must Be Mint Condition)

Four Tags:

any four of you that read this

I Am Not A Heretic

Well being I basically majored in church history in college. I was positive my theology would be Chalcedon compliant and amazingly enough according to the simplictic view of this quiz I am. I took the quiz after my good friend Nate posted his results.

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Apollanarian 67% Pelagianism 58% Monophysitism 42% Modalism 33% Adoptionist 33% Nestorianism 33% Monarchianism 25% Arianism 8% Docetism 0% Gnosticism 0% Albigensianism 0% Socinianism 0% Donatism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

Internet Pronography Safety Class

Last night at church I taught the adult class on a real world view of the simplicity of viewing and hiding internet pornography for their spouses and children. I believe that internet pornography is a blythe that challenges the integrity of all us as web enabled people from happily married adults to randy teenagers.

I have measures in place at our home and on our work computers to protect myself and my coworkers from these temptations. I find though that many people do not have protections in place, or even understand the reality of the issue.

So last night I spoke for about an hour. We discussed Web Browsers, Email, RSS, P2P, Instant Messaging, Live CDs and all other methods used for aquiring this material. We discussed URL Blacklist, URL Whitelist, and Hueristic Keyword Blocking. In the end I reccomended 2 products used in combination together for maximum protection.

A software necessity on every computer is Spector Pro 5.0 which has keyword alerts, snapshot, IM logging, P2P logging, and many additional monitoring options. Then on the hardware side, I reccomended using the Linksys WRT54GS with parental controls. This provides blacklist URL filtering for the many additional web enabled devices brought into the home.

If you are intrested here is a PDF of my handouts, and here is the PowerPoint of the presentation.

Which Of These Have You Done?

I got this from my cousin. Which of these have you done at one point in your entire life.

(X ) smoked a cigarette
(X ) crashed a friend's car
( ) fallen out of a car
( ) stolen a car
( X) been stuck in a field -
( X) been fired
( X) been in a fist fight
(X ) snuck out of your parent's house ......
(X) had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) gone on a blind date
(X) skipped school
( ) seen someone die
(X) been to Canada
( ) been to Mexico
(X) been on a plane
( X) purposely set a part of yourself on fire(stupid, huh)
( ) eaten sushi
(X ) been skiing (tried...if that counts...was at all successful...)
( X) met someone from the Internet
(X) been to a concert
(X) taken pain-killers
(X) love someone or miss someone right now
(X) laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by
(X) made a snow angel
( X)had a tea party
(X) flown a kite
(X) built a sand castle
(X) gone puddle jumping
(X) played dress up
(X) jumped into a pile of leaves
(X) gone sledding
(X) cheated while playing a game
(X) been lonely
(X) fallen asleep at work/school
( ) used a fake ID
(x) watched the sun set
( ) felt an earthquake
(X) slept beneath the stars (camping...duh)
(X) been tickled
(X) been robbed
(x) been misunderstood
(x) petted a reindeer/goat/kangaroo
(x) won a contest
(x) ran a red light/stop sign.
( ) been suspended from school
( ) had braces
(x) felt like an outcast/third person
(x) had de ja vu
(X) danced in the moonlight
(x) liked the way you looked
() witnessed a crime
(x) questioned your heart
( ) been obsessed with post-it notes
(x) squished mud through your bare toes
(x) been lost
( x) been on the opposite side of the country (world)
(X) swam in the ocean
(X ) felt like dying
(x) cried yourself to sleep
(x) played cops and robbers
(x) recently colored with crayons
(x ) sang karaoke
(x ) paid for a meal with only coins
(x) done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(x) made prank phone calls
(x) laughed until some kind of beverage came out of
your nose
(x) caught a snowflake on your tongue
(x) played/danced in the rain
(x) written a letter to Santa Claus
(x) watched the sun rise with someone you care about
(x) blown bubbles
(x) made a bonfire on the beach
( ) crashed a party ; )
(x) gone roller-skating
(x) had a wish come true
( X) jumped off a bridge
(x) won at Bingo
( ) been on a cruise
(X ) been on TV once
(x) found your soul mate
(x) found a true friend you can count on!

The Bridge: Nothing But The Blood

I went to "the Bridge" last night. It is a service down in the city for ex-offenders and those trapped in the street lifestyle. During the worship period we sang "Nothing But The Blood." I grew up on this hymn, but last night the 4th verse touch me as if I had never heard it before.

This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

It is comforting to know in a crowd of ex-offenders I have no righteousness, no hope, and no peace that is different than theirs. My pardon is found only in that cleansing blood. It was a good night and a good worship. If you live in Chicagoland, and you want to be a part of a ministry that is truly to the least of these check out the Mission USA website and visit the Bridge.

Dock N Talk™ | first STREET

Dock N Talk™ | first STREET

I am one of those people who has no landline phone at home anymore. I have a cell phone, my wife has a cell phone, my 4 year old has her own cell phone (it is really for sitters since we have no landline). Anyway, this product really appealled to me living this way. I can have the conveiences I miss of a landline phone without the cost. That would be very cool for me.

I know I am a geek. You have to admit that this is just cool.

SHINING: A Family Story

You must see this hilarious link!!!
SHINING : A Family Story

It's a preview for everybody's favorite "family" film.

ABC News - The Emerging Church

ABC News: The Emerging Church

When I first discovered the Emerging church 6 months ago I thought I have to get out of my church and into one of these. In the months since then I have decided to continue worship at my current church and be an influence for missional ideas within the the institutional structure I have grown up in.

The people at ABC, in the typical vain of sensational journalism, seem to feel this will be impossible with an impedending war between the two ecclesiolgies. I certainly hope that the power of the love of God can avoid this confrontation.

I have found the "pearl of great price" in missional living.

Broken - Entering Into Jesus' Invitation

I am posting both the MP3 and the PDF of my sermon from Sunday. I am very thankful to Gaston because his blog posting last week truly became the glue that pulled this sermon together. I was speaking on entering into brokeness with Christ, and his reference to Alanis Morissette's song "Perfect" really helped me connect with the reasons I was unable to participate in this most central of Christian disciplines. Addiottionally a while back he introduced me to Fr. Thomas Keating whose devotion thoughts on Matthew 13:33 I was also able to weave in as a part of this message.

This is my official thank you!

My Embarassment Overwhelms Me

A personal mission I am on is to warn people about the dangers of the internet. Although this usually means pornographic content, I also try as a side to that to protect people from their own stupidity in the area of Spoof email.

Well tonight I fell for one. My wife had to leave town for a funeral and she is a big Ebay user. I get this email from a person claiming they are going to report her for not responding about their missing package. Wanting to let the person know she was out of town and would respond on her return I immediately followed the link and went to respond.

I did not verify the email. The line was cast and I was the stupid fish who bit. I realized my mistake instantaneously and exited, came back in and changed our password. I however could not believe I had just done that. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!!

An Entish Morpheus?

So I found these 2 quizzes on 2 different blogs. Kingsjoy had the Matrix quiz and the Middle Eath was on Deep Soil.


You are Morpheus, from "The Matrix." You
have strong faith in yourself and those around
you. A true leader, you are relentless in your
persuit.


What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


Entish


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Up/Rooted - Chicago West Suburbs Emergent Cohort

I was blessed last night to meet Tony Jones and many local people from the local Emergent Cohort. The Cohort is named Up/Rooted and it meets the third Monday night of each month in Wheaton. Since Tony Jones was in town to speak at Wheaton College they had this special meeting on Sunday night.

I met Mike Clawson who is currently planting a church in Yorkville, IL and Dave Fitch and Geoff Holsclaw who are pastors at Life on the Vine in Long Grove, IL. I also met some neat people from Reba Place an intenitonal Christian community in Evanston.

It was a neat evening and I was glad to meet people I hope to be able to unite with in the future to work together in the name of Christ.

I would be amiss if I did not also give mad props to Kristine Socall who opened her home to the community to house this meeting. I know it must have been trashed by that many people. I met her brother who was very cool also his name was Brian.

"Waengogi Had a Son" - An "End of the Spear" Review

The story of the people of the Waodani is told in the new movie, "End of the Spear" by Every Tribe Entertainment. Their story is a message of fierce pride and selfish ambition being pierced by a small group of women committed to living out the love of Christ Jesus.

The Waodani history is as jagged edged as the spears and machetes that perpetuated an entire civilization in an unending circle of violence. Theirs was a culture so savage in their self-concern and so cyclical in their revenge that the resulting homicide rate was leading their tribe into extinction. Each family group exhibited it's ferocious strength through their cruelity to rival groups. The culture was on the brink of it's own detruction at the bitter end of one another's spear heads.

The horrible end to these people was not seen because 3 women who had lost those they loved dearly to these very spearheads walked into the jungle and brought the message of God's path. This movie seeks to illustrate how Rachel Saint, Marj Saint, and Elizabeth Elliott along with a tribe member named Dumaya brought a message that changed a family of killers, who had killed their families, into God's rich eternal family.

This movie hinges on the message that these ladies brought with them, "Waengogi (the creator God) had a son who was speared, but he did not spear back.” Now a culture of strength, retalition, and spite had been confronted with the a God who showed his strength through peace; a God who surrendered his right to retaliate because of his compassion; a God who met the spite of his enemies with forgiveness.

These themes are wonderfully illustrated as in time the tribe joins together to nuture their rivals in sickness. The clans accept each other, accept Christ and come to replace their culture of death by being a people of life. This process leads Mincaya and Steve Saint to the very island where this Waodani warrior had killed his father Nate Saint some 30 years earlier. The climax is fulfilling and intense as Mincaya is able to surrender his guilt and Saint is able to forgive his bitterness in the truth that Saint's father's life was not taken by this warrior, but was given as an offering to Almighty God.

The cross of Christ is ultimately a story of redemption, reconciliation, and life. This movie illustrates these themes masterfully. The Waodani people find redemption from their history of violence, Mincaya and Saint find reconciliation on an Amazon sandbar, and the missionaries, the families, and the Waodani share life as a followers of Waengogi's path. This is a path of love that leads to a whole new cycle seen generation to generation.

More details about the Missionary Martyrs, Steve Saint, Mincaya, and all the Waodoni people can be learned by watching the documentary Beyond The Gates of Splendor.

Adding Google Talk Online Status

I wanted to add a tutorial on my blog for instructions on listing your Online Status For Google Talk.

Jon Burrows the guy who runs the server that makes this possible has five great layouts to choose from but terrible instructions on how to do it so here goes.

GOOGLE TALK INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Add gtalkonlinestatus@googlemail.com as a Friend in Google Talk
2. Send the Code ENCSTRING as an instant message to gtalkonlinestatus@googlemail.com
3. In Your HTML code type <img src="
4. Copy and Paste the code from the ENCSTRING Reply for the image number you want to use. Choose Your Image File # At His Site.
5. Following The Pasted Filename type "> to close the HTML code
6. Your resulting line in your html should look something similar to this

<img src="http://www.jonburrows.co.uk/gtalkstatus/2/hghsHy67WEIRDCODEhg764.jpg">

Best Blonde Joke Ever

Best Blonde Joke EVER!!!

Camp Registration Database

So I was thinking about our upcoming camp season for the kids this year and how we could make everything more user friendly. I personally in the past have been a proponent of online registration but members of board always vote against me because they want a "true" signature on a piece of paper agreeing to the medical liability waiver and the camper conduct agreement.

So My new idea is a database that stores all our families information. They log in, update any changed info for their family, pick a session. At that point they are preregistered and can "print out" the paper application completely filled in for them and then just mail it in with their check to complete registration.

Is this an improvement, or just a complication since it doesn't actually register the kid?

Sid Fryer Is Blogging

One of my best friends is a man named Sid Fryer. He is a retired radio and television professor from College of Dupage. He now teaches a couple classes a semester at Judson. I have helped him get a site and get a layout and he now has a blog. Give him a few days to get his feet wet and then please go visit him. He is a wonderful Godly man, serving as "an elder" (unofficially) of a true "urban ministries" church. I am sure the lessons he has learned serving in these neighborhood will be a good lesson for all of us.

Shoe Inserts For Geeeeeee-sus!!!

Justin Baeder from Radical Congruency posted a product on his site today that is even more embarassing to the name of Christ than Christianized Poker Chips.


The In-souls shoe inserts allow you to "Stand on the Word of God" If that is not your fancy the company also reviles the name of God with Air Freshner , Hand Painted purses, and "Faith Heels" ankle socks.

Yoy have to see this snake oil to believe it!

One Not Forsaken » A Call to Be Vulnerable

One Not Forsaken » A Call to Be Vulnerable

I am preaching on entering into brokeness next Sunday and I thought this story was just perfectly timed as I am preparing my thoughts this week.

I hope uoi like it.

Can We Play Again?

SO I can not resist this great story about life with a 4 year old. It was yesterday (Saturday) morning and my daughter had climbed into our bed. As she was there only for the purpose of being a bother she immediately began pulling back the covers to allow the cold winter air of our old house to bother my previously warm body.

I let her know I did not want my shoulder exposed to the cold and wrapped it back into the warm blankets. Thinking this was funny we repeated the game several more times before she lost intrest in seeing me scurry to rewarm my body.

Upon losing intrest in bothering me, she redirected her attentions to my wife. They dialouged and played for a few minutes until she once again decided it was time to devote her pestilent behavior into my warm snuggly world.

"Can we play again," she asks me?

"Play what?" I respond having already dozed back off and forgotten the previous incident.

"Expose Daddy," she statede with confidence!

This startled me into a state of being fully awake, and I told her, "We should tell people we play that game!"

To which she responded "So we can play expose daddy, but I can't tell anyone?"

I sighed and tried to go back to sleep as my wife was dying laughing.

Coloumbus Day Retreat

I got an email letting me know I have been chosen to direct the Columbus Day Retreat at our camp this next October. This will be my second year as the director of this retreat. Any suggestions for themes are welcome and appreciated. I want it to be an AMAZING spiritual experience for the kids.

Virgin Margarita's

My wife, who like myself just loves a good margarita from time to time is pregnant right now, so naturally she has been absent in consumption of any recently. So this afternoon I decided to make her a margarita myself. I had 2 challenges, I needed the quality of flavor of a product that tasted complete, while also being a relative to the margarita. I could not just buy a sour mix, since that would be incomplete... Here was my recipe which she loved.

8 Key Limes - juiced
1 Lemon - juiced
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Cups Ice Cubes
1 Cup Water

Mixed in blender to an "Icee" like consistency. It was delicious.

My next kitchen project is going to be "Swiss Oatmeal" like she enjoyed yesterday morning at Corner Bakery. I think this recipe seems to be the most similar to their's.

A Response To My Brother On Ending Poverty

I love my brother and for the most he and I are very agreeable in political matters. We both tend to be libertarian leaning fiscal conservatives who believe in a classic federalist national identity. We are also very similar on moral issues. We both believe morality is a matter of the heart not of the legislature. So I was quite intrigued by his post Make Poverty History, which you must read before you continue.

My problem is that my brother, who is brilliant mind you and should know better, has used both a red herring and a straw man in articulating his feelings about this issue.

Let's look at the 2 true questions he asks in this post:

1. Is it the civic responsibilty of the "rich" to meet the needs of the "poor"

2. Is an unattainable goal worthy of pursuit.

So let me answer both of these questions in turn.

The red herring of his argument is to make this an issue of socialism. Any just person can see the inherrent evil found in much of the socialist ideology that past government systems have used to increase the wealth of the elite at the expense of the masses. However one can support personal involvement in the issue of poverty on a personal moral level with out supporting it on the scale of a global government.

I abhor the idea of government taking what I have earned by the work of my hands and giving it to one who has not worked. At the same time, I relish the idea of freely surrendering the blessings of my lifestyle, and making councious spending decisions so that I have more resources available to serve the under resourced God leads me to.

I have two children through Christian Relief Fund. In addition to giving at my church, I give a predetermined amount of my income to organizations that feed the poor in my local community. I have also determined to take steps that entail monetary decisions that will allow me to increase my giving both to children in 3rd world countries and to local food centers in time as I take care of some existing debt responsibilites.

All of this is because I believe it is my "moral" and therefore "civic" responsibilty to respond to those whose needs are absolute, and I believe this responsibilty is a direct result of my relationship with Christ.

Which brings us to the straw man of my brother's 2 points. This idea that a goal is chosen so that it might be attained violates not only the idea, but the direct command of scripture. Scripture commands us to "Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, and strength." Scripture commands "Love your neighbor as yourself." Scripture admonishes us to "holiness."

I seek all these principles of scripture as "goals" and I know that none of them are attainable. Goals call us to greater degrees of refinement, they set the standard of our pursuit, and many like that of ending poverty serve only to inspire us to the ideal of our world.

In a fallen state mankind will never acheive holiness, total surrender, or mutual love; additionally poverty, sickness, homelessness, and malnutrition will always be hallmarks our fallen state as well. However it is our responsibilty to strive on toward these goals as we wait for the day when Christ returns to make all things new.

Reconnecting With Old Friends

I have recently connected with three of my best friends from college via the connectivity of blogging. My senior year of college 2 of my good friends Chris "Peanhut" White and Derin Dopps got an apartment together. I went home for the summer and the two of them stayed. When I returned, our apartment reaked of smoke (though we all three smoked, we had a "no smoking" agreement in the apartment Chris had forgotten) and Chris had moved back home to VA. In his place
Nathan Slaughter moved in. Recently all three of these great guys have started blogging.

Then there was Julie Medlock she was in my social club's sister club and has one of the most beautiful voices in all the world. She found me over on the Ooze and I was like "Whoa!!!!"

Dustin Dopps who is Derin's little brother also has a blog. He was an original member of "the bonhoeffers" but was replaced by Justin Debus before the album was recorded.

Tent Pegs: Her name is Eva

Patrick Mead writes on his blog today, "We are supposed to be in the world but not of it. I fear that we are of the world -- just like it when it comes to lifestyles, possessions, dreams and desires -- but not in it. "

I think this could be the most convicting sentence I have read in a long time. We live in a worlds of Christian T-Shirts, Christian Wrapping Paper, Christian Videos, Christian Music and an array of other "Christian Products." We merchandise the name of Jesus so we can be of the world but not in it. We create pathetic knock offs of the "real thing" to avoid the reality that our Christianity is a pathetic knock off to the "real thing."

"Lord, help me to be genuine in my life style and relationship with you. Help be to truly love the people of the world the way Jesus did. Help me to not be consumed by the greed and quest for things that the world around me values." - Amen

Was Jesus Intolerant

Dan Kimball asks the question, "What would you do?" if you encountered a Christian wearing a shirt that truly dishonored the name of Christ. The comments from his readers are as intresting as his summary of the situation.

Our Future Is Buried In The Past

I am a 4th generation member of the restoration movement. I was raised "died in the wool" conservative church of Christ. I went to a church of Christ college and studied to be a church of Christ minister. While in college I lost faith in the Church of Christ. I did not lose faith in God, nor did I lose faith in the principles of the restoration movement. I simply lost faith in the institution the Church of Christ had become.

In those years of study we naturally studied the work of Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. CoCers are often called Campbellites which is an unfortunate part of our heritage. As you study these two thinkers you quickly discover that Campbell's philosophies won out over Stone's. This is unfortunate since Stone had the more Kingdom World View.

Anyway, to get back to what I was saying, I stayed with the Church of Christ despite my disagreements and my discomfort because that's what you do when you are fourth generation. Now, in these days of being dispossessed, trying to decide if I am leaving the Church of Christ, I decided I needed to go back to my roots. I needed to go back to the roots of the restoration movement and learn from the past. That decision led me, always being a fan of his work, to Barton Stone.

O when shall Zion's glory be restored! One thing is certain, her glory will not be restored till a reformation of these evils be effected-- till the church be purged from idolatry, or the service of mammon--from seeking the friendship and honor of the world--from union with the States and Kingdoms of the world--from the vain desire and work of legislating, in order to check and destroy the reigning corruption of mankind--from the vain attempts to have better laws, and better rulers in the civil government to the neglect of the king and kingdom of peace. Had half the Zeal been expended in the cause of christianity, which of late has been spent by religious professors in state politics, religion would have raised her drooping head, and smiled in hope of better times.

As I read this article today, published in November of 1840, I could not believe it was 150 years old and yet so relevant to today's church. The very reasons Stone was searching for restoration are the same reasons I am seeking restoration. The reason he walked the path he walked was because he shared the same vision then I see today.

The post-modern Christ centered church is the embodiment of Stone's restoration principles. The institutions that weighed against the church in his time, weigh against her now. So I will decide to walk. I will walk alongside my teacher Barton Stone. I will be a part of the eternal restoration movement.

Pictures By My Daughter

Photos Taken By Ella

Click Photo For Full Size

Photos Of Ella's Intresting Outfit

Password Incorrect! It is Kevin

My four year old got a hold of my camera and took a bunch of pictures. I have passworded like I do with the ones of the kids of them just because there are several and I don't want anyone who does not care to see them to be bogged down by the bandwidth. The password is Kevin. They are not very well taken but very cute.

There are alose a few of her in a rather "unique" outfit that she put on while playing in her bedroom. Just use the usual password for pics of the kids to see those ones.


Enter Password For Photos:

QuizFarm.com :: Which Friend are you?

You scored as Ross. You're brainy Ross. Once a geek and now a hit with the ladies. Hope you have enough money to pay for all those weddings! Ross 95% Monica 55% Phoebe 45% Joey 40% Chandler 40% Rachel 40% Which Friend are you? created with QuizFarm.com

That Kid Is Almost As Cute As Her Dad

Ella and Daddy

My Hottie of A Wife

Click Photo For Full Size

Password Incorrect!




So nobody wants to see just another picture of me. I have more cute kid pics, and one of my hottie wife. If you know the password I have used in the past, type it in, if not let me know and I will give it to you.


Enter Password For Photos:

RLP and The Book of Daniel

Real Live Preacher reviewed some Sinfully bad TV
when he wrote for Salon.com today.

I saw previews for th Publish Post e Book of Daniel and thought, "Now that looks stupid." His review has confirmed my suspicion in his review about yet another low quality poor content vomit from the mouth of NBC.

I also agreed with his reaction to the reaction of the religious right.

Porn and Commitment To God

I read 2 great articles this morning that I wanted to share.

Sacred Narrative posted about the first article over on the Ooze. Feminist Naomi Watts presents a unique look the effect of porn on our culture:

Here is what young women tell me on college campuses when the subject comes up: They can’t compete, and they know it. For how can a real woman—with pores and her own breasts and even sexual needs of her own (let alone with speech that goes beyond “More, more, you big stud!”)—possibly compete with a cybervision of perfection, downloadable and extinguishable at will, who comes, so to speak, utterly submissive and tailored to the consumer’s least specification?

The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what porn offers, they cannot expect to hold a guy. The young men talk about what it is like to grow up learning about sex from porn, and how it is not helpful to them in trying to figure out how to be with a real woman. Mostly, when I ask about loneliness, a deep, sad silence descends on audiences of young men and young women alike. They know they are lonely together, even when conjoined, and that this imagery is a big part of that loneliness. What they don’t know is how to get out, how to find each other again erotically, face-to-face.

George Barna looks at the measure of commitment to God in individual Christian lives:

Perhaps the most telling information relates to the measures that are not widely used by pastors to assess people’s spiritual health. Less than one out of every ten pastors mentioned indicators such as the maturity of a person’s faith in God, the intensity of the commitment to loving and serving God and people, the nature of each congregant’s personal ministry, the breadth of congregational involvement in community service, the extent to which believers have some forms of accountability for their spiritual development and lifestyle, the manner in which believers use their resources to advance the kingdom of God, how often people worship God during the week or feel as if they have experienced the presence of God, or how faith is integrated into the family experience of those who are connected with the church.

Please read both of the articles for both seem to hit the nail on the head on their 2 perspective issues.

How To Build Community

Larry James had a post on his website about the text of this poster.
You can buy it from the Syracuse Cultural Workers website.

Sad News- From a Congregational Meeting

I felt so disprited today as I sat through what was perhaps the most tragic congregational meeting I have ever been to. Our elders, deacons, and ministry leaders have decided to remove benevolance from the 2006 budget. Missions which managed to "survive" was dessimated to an almost non existent point.

I sat jaw dropped and amazed at the annoucement as their defense was something to the effect of we hated to do it but the copier needed to be replaced and the driveway top needs to be resealed.

I could hardly sit through the meeting as I sat in my chair with tears in my eyes.

At the end we were challenged to put our giving commitment on a card and give it to one of the elders on our way out. I could not fill it out. It was not that I could not commit to give to God this year, it was that I was just so hurt by the ideology behind the budget that I could not bring myself to write my number on the card.

More and More I am dispossessed!!!

Matthew 24:37-40 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Ersatz Christianity

Ersatz Christianity is what you get when you have 3 services a week with no service.

Kingsjoy Did It First - My New Chatter Box

So Kingsjoy (whose website has no working RSS feed) added a chatter box on his blog today. Since he added the Frapper map to his site after I added it to mine, I decided I would steal this idea from him and add a chatter box.

I wrote it myself rather than using a prefab one, so that it would integrate well with my site layout and would include email notification. It is quite cool and I definitely encourage you to go over to my side bar and use it.

I made it so other friends could use my basic design as a pop up chatterbox, but I did not write any code to make it look nice. Take a look at this one I made for kingsjoy (I will not be offended if you want the slick looking one from Flooble.)

Instant Blog Post

I think I despise my grandma Tasha. Often she is a little dumb, then last week she just intrigued me... I could really use her advice reading a book about memory in today's cut-throat corporate world, but then she began yelling:

"No kidding?! I am so sick of hearing about today's cut-throat corporate world all the time!"

At first I screamed "WHOA!" but then just now I just quieted down and began picking my nose. After all, she *is* my grandma and I need to make this work...

Link of the day: Your horoscope | Randomly generated by Flooble Instant Blog Post Generator

Do you want to write an Instant Blog Post?

This incredibly bizzaro site allows you to generate "random" blog posts for your site. Now that is just quinessentially odd. What is the point of a "random" blog post. My squinty eyed "what?" meter is off the chart.

TiVo Series3 at CES

Can you say TiVo Series3 !!!

The people over at Tivo Lovers had pictures from CES of The Series 3 Tivos that will come out late this year.

• 2 High Definition Tuners
• Front Recording Display
• 300 Hours Recording Time
• Broadband Video Codecs
• External Hard Drive

This is gonna be AMAZING!!!!!

Bill Gates at CES 2006

Bill Gates demonstrated the "digital lifestyle" last night in his keynote at CES. I think that this vision, though farsical in a 4 year timeline, is beyond amazing. You need to watch from around minute 12 through about minute 19. It is amazing and I think that 6-7 years is a more likely timeline.

Single Interface is the big idea of the speech. That is code for "You need Microsoft" I find myself that organic innovation seems to be faster and better than MS innovation, so naturally the real world, that is not a "single interface" will look differently than his speech.

On that note, John Dvorak wrote about "MS internet services" a few days ago. Where I think Mr. Dvorak is wrong is that the young generation, wants my info and my services delivered NOW and HERE!!! So if MS can overcome the speed issues that would hurt usabilty, then I believe we will have this new product model adopted very quickly by my generation.

Walking the Bible - Program Details - Yahoo! TV

Walking the Bible - Program Details - Yahoo! TV

Special Thanks to Darla for this reccomendation. I will definitely be grabbing this on TiVo this tonight. Since Lost is not back for another week, I will probably watch it this evening, rather than waiting a day as I will do when Lost retruns next week.

Mockingbird - You MUST hear this album

I have never heard an album I have been more passionate about the people I know and love hearing. On Dec 26th I had the privilege (and it is a privilege) to hear Derek Webb's newest album Mockingbird.

"there are two great lies that i've heard: ‘the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die’ and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him " - A King and A Kingdom

Imagine dsicovering (after a lifetime in an evangelical denomination) that there are people who think and feel like me. I have been exuberant for DAYS now since this album came out. I am glowing everytime I hear it, because he puts thoughts and struggles I have with the church around me so wonderfully.

Please buy this album or download it with your Napster Music Subscription like I did!!!

I Am BACK!!!

I have so much time trying to get my blog to work after a move to a new server I had barely posted at all....

No More I am back w/ a vengenace. I've got some post to be making!

I should explain, my own stupidity was the problem, and my brother solved this problem in moments. I have been cursing Blogger and all along I was the idiot.

Escapa!

Escapa!

This game will blow your minid... It is absolute torture.

One Not Forsaken - The Empty Ramblings of an Emptied Man

One Not Forsaken - The Empty Ramblings of an Emptied Man

I have had listed on my friends a very long time Nathan Slaughter for his family webpage, but he was not a blogger and that always bugged me. Well I am glad to add him as an official blogger. Check out his site. He is a wonderful writer and brilliant thinker.