Twitter = Wiki-Spam?

For all three of you out there who have not jumped on the Twitter bandwagon at least once (it's ok, I'm number four), Adam Sternbergh has an interesting article on its popularity and inevitable demise.  He quotes Nielsen in reporting that 60% of first-time Tweeters fail to return the following month.  Those who do seem to enjoy Twitter are people who "think that (a) their every stray thought is publishable poetry and (b) it’s crucial to constantly insert their name—their brand—into the conversation."  Most others, after using it, feel that the Twitter concept is "less like a communications breakthrough than a form of torture devised by Philip K. Dick."  His final analysis is that Twitter is nothing more than the newest tool to advertise your product to the public, whether that product is your newest book, or yourself.  In other words, spam.

 

Hmmm... guess I don't really need to see what all the fuss is about then.

 

josh r

Tackling Terrifying Topics (90&9 Cover)

(From the 90&9 Cover)

“Never discuss politics or religion.”

This advice is imparted on a regular basis with the implication that failure to heed this time-tested rule in any relationship may result in hard feelings and loss of friendship between the participants. We threw out the rulebook a couple Wednesday nights ago at Abundant Life Church and kicked off a series entitled, “Sects, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll,” with a discussion of the church’s role in politics.

What would you have said on the panel? Comment here.

And on the 8th Day Man Created God in His Own Image, After His Likeness...

           

 

We don't really know what Jesus looked like.  He didn't leave behind any photos, paintings, sculptures, or even detailed descriptions.  The closest we get to anything is a prophecy written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born describing him as having "no beauty that we should desire him." 

 

Consequently, artists have often portrayed Jesus as physically similar to themselves.  Bearded Jesus and clean-shaven Jesus, black Jesus and white Jesus, laughing Jesus, and somber Jesus, 20th-Century businessman Jesus, and now, 21st-Century casual Jesus !  I know the purpose of evangelism is to translate the Gospel into a language the culture understands, but do we sometimes go too far? 

 

 

In trying to make Jesus accessible to our culture, the danger of losing Jesus altogether is ever present (not that Father David Buckley et al have necessarily done that).  When the message of Jesus sounds too much like our own, when we are able to use Jesus to support all our views, when Jesus fails to challenge us we have probably strayed from who Jesus really is.  This is why we need to constantly examine ourselves in light of the Bible.  It is easier to remake Jesus in our image than to remake our lives in His image.

 

josh r

We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body . 

 

This is the closing line of the Fundamental Doctrine of the UPCI.  The basis of our fellowship is our beliefs in the oneness of God and salvation.  In all else we are guided by the Articles of Faith and, more importantly, Romans 14 .  Or at least that was the way it was originally intended.  But since these words were originally penned, peripheral issues have become more and more important.  This is not just occurring in the AP movement, however.

 

In a challenging article about the Southern Baptist Convention's struggle with the issue of alcohol, Eric Reed discusses how different groups have responded to peripheral issues.  He quotes historian Mark Noll: "Some evangelicals have made opinion on liquor [insert television, casual preachers, or any other "AP issue" here] more important for fellowship and cooperation…than attitudes toward the person of Christ or the nature of salvation."  In other words, it's easy to make peripheral issues more important than Jesus.

 

in Paul's day, the primary holiness standard up for debate was circumcision.  There was even a faction that would refuse to fellowship with Gentile Christians who had not undergone this rite.  When Peter sought to please this faction by separating himself from Gentiles in Antioch , Paul famously got in his face and said that "their conduct was not in step with the truth of the Gospel."  Why?  Because they were elevating personal standards of holiness (not a bad thing to have) above love for their brothers and sisters in Christ. 

 

It is important to have personal convictions about holiness.  It is important for pastors to draw lines that are contextual to their communities.  But when these lines--when these convictions--turn into walls that keep out fellow Christians, then we have lost sight of the Gospel. 

 

Thanks to Toby Stevens for turning me on to this article.  For a different AP response to it, and a call back to mission, read his post here .

 

josh r

Is Church Too Girly?

 

Ok, maybe it's a British thing... After all, I don't recall ever seeing a church decorated with flowers and embroidered banners.  Maybe an understated arrangement in front of the pulpit, but embroidered banners?  No wonder an online survey of readers of the UK men's magazine Sorted showed that men would like church to be more manly.  "Sentimental lovey dovey songs," dancing in church, hugging, holding hands, and sitting in circles were also on the list of things the men felt uncomfortable with.   Put all of that together, and it sounds like a pretty feminine church. 

 

So what would a "manly" church look like?  Respondents suggested "proper, macho hymns" and doing more stuff together.  It should feel more like "the football (soccer) terraces" than "Laura Ashley showrooms." 

 

I guess the long-haired hippie version of Jesus doesn't help very much either.

 

josh r

The Holy Ghost Can't Be It: 90&9s Cover Story

(This is the final paragraph for 90&9's Cover Story)

It’s long overdue for us to get our graduates off the graduation platform and into their specific callings. It’s time we taught our best and brightest how to shine for Christ outside of the Pentecostal movement. It’s time we grew in crazy, Acts-like proportions because all of our graduates are working overtime to get outsiders into the spiritual graduation program while the church kept working overtime to get them trained to master their callings to go back into society. It’s time we stopped cheering about the same people re-receiving the Holy Ghost and got outside to turn our world upside down.


Agree? Disagree? Undecided? Comment now!

Sharing God's Grace: Yann Martel

I have to admit, I still get a thrill out of getting an article printed in another publication. Sometimes it can take a maddeningly long time, but then you see it and you fall in love again.

In this case, I did an interview in April, 2008 with Yann Martel, author of the Booker Award-winning Life of Pi. He's a fabulous story about an atheist writing a novel about a believer named Pi, and literally converting himself into belief. Now he speaks to lit conferences around the world about the importance of belief.

One interesting sidebar to this story, from my angle, was how few Christian publications were interested in this piece after they realized he didn't convert to their denomination. (Of course, the secular publications weren't interested either.) Don't get me wrong, he's still in the early stages of his walk with Christ, yet I was amazed at God's grace in his circumstances. I mean, he converted himself by writing fiction!

Thankfully, there were magazines as intrigued as I was, so here's the story (with fabulous artwork) in the latest issue of Relevant Magazine.

The Skeptic

Men have tried to turn "revolutionise" from a transitive to an intransitive verb. The Jacobin could tell you not only the system he would rebel against, but (what was more important) the system he would not rebel against, the system he would trust. But the new rebel is a Sceptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts not only the institution he denounces, but the doctrine by which he denounces it. Thus he writes one book complaining that imperial oppression insults the purity of women, and then he writes another book (about the sex problem) in which he insults it himself. He curses the Sultan because Christian girls lose their virginity, and then curses Mrs. Grundy because they keep it. As a politician, he will cry out that war is a waste of life, and then, as a philosopher, that all life is waste of time. A Russian pessimist will denounce a policeman for killing a peasant, and then prove by the highest philosophical principles that the peasant ought to have killed himself. A man denounces marriage as a lie, and then denounces aristocratic profligates for treating it as a lie. He calls a flag a bauble, and then blames the oppressors of Poland or Ireland because they take away that bauble. The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite sceptic, is always engaged in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.

G.K. Chesterton--Orthodoxy, "The Suicide Of Thought"

Perez Hilton And His Cowardly Sisterhood Of Traveling Two-Faces

Andrew Breitbart knocks this one out of the park. I don't know about anyone else, but I just don't have what it takes to cower under a table with this issue. How in the world Miss California's answer to the overtly-homosexual Perez Hilton's question became the issue instead of the vulgar, hateful, nasty tantrum from the effeminate diva, I have no idea. But Brietbart seems to to think maybe the gays are getting to play their queen's gambit en passant, as it were:

On display at the Miss USA event was the activist left's pageant of selective bullying, a concerted strategy to go after low-hanging fruit like Mormons. But the left leaves off its hit list members in good standing of its normal coalition - its "rainbow"coalition. In California, one of the gayest places on the map, blacks and Hispanics - who disproportionately disapprove of same-sex marriage - get a stunning pass from outraged proponents of gay marriage.

Since 9/11, the highly organized gay left has also been deafeningly silent on Islam's anti-modern approach to homosexuality - let alone same-sex unions. The mullahs in Iran somehow get a major pass while the director of the California Musical Theatre in Sacramento is targeted for ruin. This contradiction is not subtle. Indeed, it's obvious and pathetic.

Let's not forget, Perez Hilton went on MSNBC, and retracted a previous apology for calling her a demeaning pejorative we all know that starts with the letter "B," only to upgrade it to the even-taboo-by-the-standards-of-most--malevolent moniker that starts with "C."

Man. All for simply taking the same position on marriage President Obama took not too long ago. I'll bet he hasn't sustained veiled death threats from British governmental officials. Nor should he.

Had a heterosexual man with converse politics made this same statement, he would be finished. Forever. Chances are, Hilton's career will only be enhanced.

And thus, the continued cosmic battle for the soul of the country, and for mankind as well.

-R

Quote On Meaning And Evolution

I had motive for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves...For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.

Aldous Huxley - Ends and Means

90&9 Updates

Everett Gossard, one of our own Notes bloggers, is in Africa on a missions trip with his family this Summer. Please keep them in your prayers and check out his cool blog on their efforts!

FYI: The short version is our ISP was bought out by a bigger Internet Service Provider & somewhere along the way we stopped being able to publish both Notes & Word. I just spent 30+ mins on tech support, after emailing & the like. Short version is they're still working on it. So much for the month of April in Blogville. ARGH!

Welcome to the Fringe

Thank you, Jon Meacham, for bringing to light some fascinating statistics.  I have long sensed the declining influence of Christianity in American culture, but had no evidence to support that until reading your article in Newsweek .  Now I know, based on scientific studies, that "the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990."  More specifically, "the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent," and that the number of people willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic has increased about fourfold... to about 3.6 million." 

 

Of course, coming from a Oneness Pentecostal tradition, I am used to being on the fringe--being one of those who lacks any serious cultural influence.  Speaking as one on the fringe, I would suggest that it is the best place for Christianity to be in a culture.  Looking at the history of Christianity we see that the Church thrives when it is not in fashion, and suffers when it can take cultural influence for granted.  The explosive growth of the first church, the sweeping conversions in Ireland led by St. Patrick, even the renewal and Reformation of the church all grew out of oppressive environments.  On the other hand, the Christian-Hellenistic syncretism of the fourth and fifth centuries, the pre-Reformation excesses of the priesthood, and such Holy Wars as the Crusades grew out of a Christianity that was closely tied to the secular power structure.

 

For some reason, God seems to prefer the underdog.  He uses the weak to confound the strong, the foolish to bring to nothing the wise.  Perhaps an American Christianity that is lacking in cultural influence will be a better venue for God to bring more glory to Himself.  Perhaps it will be easier for Him to move when we don't feel like we can handle things so well on our own.  I look forward to a deeper revelation of His glory, not through political powerhouses in the media spotlight, but way out here on the fringe!

 

josh r

Jars of Clay: The Long Fall Back to Earth

Jars of Clay released their new record on Tuesday, and I hurried down to the local Best Buy and got my copy. I was not disappointed.

The guys continue to amaze me at how far they can stretch artistically. The lyrics are the usual solid, introspective themes that we've come to expect from the Christian-yet-relevant band, but the sound is (for the most part) new. While unlike any project to date, there are some echoes of the Christmas album released in 2007, which is to say the music is full of electronica/synth/hint of 80s - a far cry from the acoustic folk sounds of their beginnings.

But it works and after the first listen through you'll hear these songs like the voices of old friends telling new stories.

At a time when there are many bands that should have stopped making music a long time ago, Jars of Clay's latest offering has me hoping they still have many more songs left to share.

xBlog

Starting a new job is a little bit tricky. It's kind of like the first day of school when you're all full of anticipation and wonder about this wonderful stage of life that you are embarking upon. On the other hand, as an adult with a little bit of experience behind you, you know that all jobs (no matter how exciting they may seem at first) will eventually become routine.

Dave Ramsey's Townhall For Hope

By now, it should be the most understated fact that "Hope" in its most practical definition has merely been a utilitarian vehicle--a simple, yet effective dance of semantics that wants every single one of us to succumb to the state's protective "wing."

Money management expert, Dave Ramsey, is having none of it, and has decided to rally people to an actual and tangible sense of hope--not pessimism masquerading as hope:



More on the event, which is tomorrow, by clicking on this:



-R

Jonny Lang On Leno

Didn't even know about this until I referenced a web page looking for something completely unrelated. And since I'm not a "Notes" Blogger any more . . .not a bad sound considering the ambient soundboard mixes on these shows for live bands are notoriously substandard.

As a note, I've seen Jonny play live four times since his conversion, and this is the first time I've seen him playing a Gibson ES-335, but then again, I'm a guitarist and perseverate about these things.



-R

Quote For The Day

"Most disturbing of all, perhaps, is that not since Saturday has Susan Boyle been Susan Boyle. It's a permutation of the Heisenberg principle: That 30 million people have heard her, seen her, embraced her has already changed who she is. The shy churchgoer who said that her recently deceased mother encouraged her to "take the risk," who admitted in her audition that she has never been kissed, who has forever lived as something of an accidental outcast - she now seems too much of this world. "I've been for a meeting with Sony BMG, but I can't say much about it," she said this week. "It's early days." Susan Boyle is now one of us. And that is really a shame."

-R

A Nail In Cynicism's Coffin

Perhaps you are not one of the eighteen-gazillion people who've seen this already. If you haven't, get ready to have your "glass-is-half-empty" template completely obliterated by the following few minutes, as this British woman, devoid of any single trapping that would make her a contender for a cultural phenomenon that bedrocks itself on narcissism and facade, breaks every rule.

Worth noting the snarky girl at 1:23 who wouldn't step out of her Ashlee Simpson doppelganger hairdo if her life depended on it. I have a feeling she may have had her attitudes rearranged for a bit. Even better, the two British guys that are backstage, totally relishing the reaction to the human plutonium they knew they just escorted to the stage:

Anchoress: Jesus Finds Perhaps An Odd(?) Defender In Stephen Colbert

The Colbert Report is something I sometimes catch glimpses of while I'm at work (as the ambient noise of a juvenile detention center). I doubt I've seen any of it all the way through, but I got the premise nearly immediately: Stephen Colbert is a satirical take on the supposed "quintessential" Fox News Journalist (you know how the media is all overpopulated with big fans of George Bush and all). Aside from its 180-degree axio-perversion, Colbert is nonetheless a funny and quick-witted talent.

So I'd normally just sluff off the following story as part of Colbert's over-the-top portrayal of right-of-center, bible-thumping lunatics (that sentiment of course the bedrock for the delivery).

The reason I depart from ignoring it is because The Anchoress, a blogger for whom I have profound respect despite major doctrinal differences (she is a devoted Catholic), thinks there might be more to Colbert's roundly hard treatment of Bart Ehrman, an atheist who somehow manages to find himself as chair of the Religious Studies department at the University of North Carolina. Ehrman is on Colbert's show to defend his book, Jesus Interrupted.

In another situation, I'd be tempted to post the video as a stand-alone with my own commentary. But The Anchoress is brilliant herself, and should have the outlook that made me even take a second look at this promoted. I simply find myself thinking more deeply every single time I read her blog--and though she probably won't figure out who I am, she was a blogging acquaintance and traffic-buddy of mine once upon a time, in another blog incarnation. But I'll let that lay for now.

Go and check out the video at The Anchoress' site. Besides chortling why an atheist is concerned at all with presiding as a religious studies chair, you'll just come away going, "hmmmm." Especially as Colbert's "4 blind men" analogy at the end seems to go south into satire, until it (oddly) makes sense.

-R

He Is Risen

Katleen, a wonderful acquaintance and former co-worker, sent me the following photo:

This happens to be a few blocks from my house (Redding, Ca.)on the automotively-defunct Diestelhorst Bridge, and just up-river from the fame-gathering Sundial bridge (even closer to my house).

What pretends to rattle-can graffiti is actually minute etching into the mossy accumulation.

Oh, and it had since faded. But one thing is for sure. The family of a moments-ago freed ship captain will never see Easter in quite the same light as anybody else. Or at least as accurately as anybody else.

-R

Rick Warren Drives Metaphorical Evangelical Car Into The Crowd

If there's anything that high-profile Christians should figure out, it's this: that watering down one's beliefs in the name of achieving political expediency will only injure ones self, and leave one's wounds open and vascular to a world of jackals who will close in on them.

Such is the case with Saddleback Church's Rick Warren, who most recently offered the (I might add well delivered) prayer at President Obama's inauguration, but is perhaps most well known for his authorship of The Purpose-Driven Life.

Leave it to the bromidic truths in James 1:8, about the stabilities to be found in double-mindedness to be the rock against which Mr. warren's evangelical future will be dashed. Apparently, he isn't as against gay marriage as an institution as he once was. At least that's what he told Larry King:

Evangelical leaders say they are bewildered and stunned by the Rev. Rick Warren's apparent turnaround on gay marriage after the famous California pastor said earlier this week that he was not a proponent of California's Proposition 8.

Mr. Warren told CNN's Larry King on Monday that he "never once even gave an endorsement" of the proposition, which said marriage in the state could only involve one man and one woman. The measure won at the polls last November by a close margin, in effect negating an earlier California Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriages.

Especially when that pesky video he sent to his congregation is quoted verbatim:

Now let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8," he said on the video, "and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues, I come
out very clear."

Mr. Warren "clarifies" this in the King interview:

In his conversation with Mr. King, Mr. Warren said, "All of a sudden out of it[opponents] made me something that I really wasn't. And I actually — there were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends — the leaders that I knew — and actually apologized to them. That never got out."

Apologize for what? I have gay friends as well, and they at least appreciate that my conversational opposition to gay marriage doesn't change when they walk into the room. I'm always confused by this. Apparently, I'm not the only one confused by Mr. Warren's bobbing and weaving on the narrow road--which of course leads to this run over the median right before flipping the entire vehicle during an over correction:"

It was a pastor talking to his own people," he replied. "I've never said anything about it since. I don't know how you can take one video newsletter to your own church and turn that into — all of a sudden I'm the poster boy for anti-gay marriage."

Which, of course, leads to:

Saddleback Church, where Mr. Warren is pastor, released a clarification on April 9 to the evangelical-oriented CBN.com, saying the pastor's remarks on CNN were not in reference to the video but "to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state."

Don't know about you, but I'm tired from just reading it. Imagine trying to hold two opinions at once.

Sad. Mr. Warren should just, as they say, pick a team and play.

-R

An Interesting (And Brief) Talk On Postmodernism

Not sure how much of the Ninety and Nine readership has ever heard of Dr. Ravi Zacharias, but I personally discovered this amazing apologist while taking in the Truth Project series, which I blogged about here.

If I was to ever offer a public criticism of the apostolic arena, it would be that we don't have enough of this kind of thing--an unabashed and fearless willingness to take this life headlong into the devil's camp--or as it is called now--mainstream academic circles:



-R

Weirdly . . .

. . . Blogger isn't publishing anything on Word or Notes, so please know we've been trying to post since Thursday on both.

Stay tuned.

Don't Bother Me With Hostage Situations, I've Got An Economy To Nationalize

It has become clear that when President Obama wants to take over an entire sector of the economy, that he has no problem talking down, maligning and castigating the sector he wants to take over. This--all easily mitigated and driven by that ever-ubiquitous Linus Blanket of rhetoric: the teleprompter. Even to the point of endangering the lives of people who don't hold a candle to the malignant corruption in Congress.

We're not even 100 days into the new administration and we're already being punked in a fashion commensurate with Jimmy Carter's 444-day waiting period on hostage negotiations. Americans are being held by Somali extremist pirates. Yet, Mr. Obama's only real response is that he is "studying" the situation. And by that I mean, possibly studying how to take over the shipping industry after this little "irritation" and "delay in tax-hikes" passes.

Time to ditch the teleprompter, Mr. President. Time to shake yourself of your press-clippings-related trance and say something--anything--about the fact that yet another "aberrant" sector of the only religious contingent you've given any respect to are ready to kill Americans. Your public refusal to do so says much.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the Captain of the seized ship gave himself over to save the rest of the crew. Maybe after "studying" the situation? Or perhaps doing what a leader was put in place to do.

I know one thing. The president has certainly wasted no time in "studying" how to disarm our airline pilots, giving terrorists--or as they are labeled now--overseas contingency agents--zero resistance against another September 11th.

Here's the memo, sir. We're the good guys. They're the bad guys. It's your job to act accordingly. Any refusal to say anything less and you are nearly guaranteed a single term.

-R

Well, the NCAA tourny is over, and I came in at a modest 5th place in the 90&9 bracket. But I have to tell you a secret about Bradely. He may have come in 10th in our bracket, but he fills out 1,897,000 other brackets so that every possible combination of wins/losses is covered. He's secretly rejoicing because somewhere out there, he has won!

And here's a note from the Apostolic Report about a fan who had a sign reading "John 3:16". It was promptly taken away by security. The Apostolic Report links to video footage of the incident.

In fairness, it is also being reported that large signs are not allowed at NCAA sporting events.

Moral Collapse? Maybe Not.

Michael Medved has a great piece at Salvo Magazine about the supposed moral decline in America. He cites current data which show that Americans actually may be behaving more morally than ever before.

The Guttmacher Institute, affiliated with Planned Parenthood, acknowledges that abortion rate rates peaked in 1981, just as our most outspokenly pro-life president, Ronald Reagan, entered the White House. In that year, doctors performed 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. Twenty years later, after tireless efforts by pro-life activists and educators, that number had dropped steadily, year by year, all the way to 21.1, a reduction of nearly 30 percent.

In April 2008 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report showing that between 1990 and 2004, the estimated abortion rate declined by a full 24 percent. In no single year did the rate even inch upward. Among the most vulnerable teenage mothers between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, the abortion rate fell a staggering 55 percent.

One thing that he points out that grabbed my attention is that the national divorce rate is lower now than at any point since 1970. I wonder if the divorce rate in the church is actually higher now than it has ever been? I haven't taken the liberty to look up those numbers, but it strikes me that divorce seems like an absolute epidemic in the church right now.

xBlog

Inspirational quote of the day (seen at a coffee shop): "I don't have a problem with caffeine. I have a problem without caffeine". So true...

April Sadness Follows March Madness

So yeah, I didn't do so well in my brackets this year.

I ranked 27 out of 33 at work. 13 out of 15 in the 90&9 brackets (Who said this would be fun?!?), and then the hated (& perennially overrated) North Carolina Tar Heels won it all last night. Life just isn't fair.

Still, to give honor where honor is due . . .

90&9's Top 10 in 2009

1. RJ Aycock (who can be found at Notes, & picked the Tar Heels to win it all)
2. Kenny Chessor
3. Shirley McDonald (of the 90&9 staff)
4. Jaime McDonald (remember that last name)
5. David Bunch (who can be found at Collideoscope)

6. Nita Curry (who picked Michigan State to win it all. I actually laughed at her about that.)
7. Bobby McDonald (Shirley's one and only)
8. Bradley McDonald (the rabid sports fan who hereafter will be entitled "Jaime's husband")
9. Marsupial Jones (who picked God's team--the Mizzou Tigers--to win it all)
10. Josh Lewis (of the 90&9 staff)

*SIGH* Even my 11 year-old ranked higher than me.

Stupid brackets.

xBlog

Sickness is no fun. My entire family has been sick over the last week and a half, and on Tuesday I went down for the count. And yes, it is true that men do not handle being sick as well as women do. I was very, very pathetic.

Apostolic Adoptions

Check out this great blog that deals with adoption issues.

The site is linked to New Beginnings Adoptions, the only fully accredited Apostolic adoption agency (that we know of). They have recently received accretidation for international adoptions. Such a wonderful asset for people of faith who need these services.

Becareful What You Pray For

Well, it's April 1 and I figured it was a good time to update everyone on my ongoing job hunt saga.

I have a job interview in DC on Friday (2nd interview actually). Excellent news, right? Definitely. So why am I so anxious? I've always told the Lord I'd go anywhere, and there are certainly worse places to end-up than Washington, DC. I think I'm just dreading the thought of having to pack-up my life again. I know if it is the right position that I will have peace about the situation and it will be a new phase of life.

Anyway, no matter how it pans out this is an excellent opportunity for me to take my first trip to DC and to get to see the cherry blossoms, which are in full bloom this weekend.

Oh, and I'd also like to say a big welcome back to David. I missed his triumphant return but am really looking forward to reading his microblogs over the next month. I think it's a fabulous idea!

Experimental Blog (aka "xblog")

I was looking at an old friend's Facebook page, and she had posted some pictures from high school - in class, hanging out, etc. We're talking early 90's here, and I just had this sudden wave of nostalgia. Does anyone remember feeling like "man I'm now in high school, it's now the 90's, society has now zenithed, and I'm at the top"? Is "zenithed" a word?

My Experiment With This Blog

The article I mentioned on the last post plus some interesting thoughts I had at a coffee shop today got me thinking about something.

Okay, so you have blogs. Like Collideoscope. Blogs that you read, perhaps hear about a cool link or hear about something going on in the author's life. That's on one end of the spectrum. Then you have Twitter, which is basically a "micro-blog", a one sentence update on what's going on in someone's life at the time (e.g. "I missed my bus"). From what I just gleaned from the quick video promo of Twitter, we're talking no more than 140 characters per post.

So what about something in between? Like a three sentence blog that says something like, "I was at a coffee shop today and saw these two older guys having great face-to-face conversation. But then there was this group of twenty-somethings sitting at a table and they all were at laptops with headphones on. Occasionally they would mutter something to each other. Isn't that an interesting generational gap?"

Basically something strikes you and you blog it, but not a real blog, and not a "tweet" either.

So I'm going to try it here starting Monday. 3-5 times a week, in addition to regular blogs, I'll have quick plugs like the one above. I want you to tell me if you think it's interesting, boring, dumb idea, whatever, and we'll see what happens.

Rockin' Robin Says Tweet Tweet

Steven Levy writes an interesting article for Wired magazine's February issue called The Burden of Twitter.

He talks about the responsibility he feels to keep up with his numerous blogs, twitter posts, Facebook status updates and the like while also feeling some sense of worry that he is sharing too much of his life with people he doesn't even know.

Says Steven:

Because of time constraints and just plain reticence, I worry that I'm snatching morsels from the information food bank without making any donations. Instead of healthy, reciprocal participation, I'm flirting with parasitic voyeurism.

So, driven by guilt, I try to pitch in. I post Facebook status reports, send iPhone snapshots to Flickr, link my Netflix queue with FriendFeed. But as my participation increases, I invariably suffer another psychic downside of social networking: remorse.

The more I upload the details of my existence, even in the form of random observations and casual location updates, the more I worry about giving away too much. It's one thing to share intimacies person-to-person. But with a community? Creepy.

The point he ultimately makes is one that, I think, deserves some discourse:

We hear a lot about privacy violations by Big Brother and Little Brother. But what if the fault lies not in our siblings but in ourselves?

Interesting paradox, don't you think?

Jonny Lang At It Again

I'll let it speak for itself, but my suspicions that Jonny was going to weather his conversion well are being borne out. I'm buying it. Tuesday. Sharp.

Too bad the whole record isn't him, despite the fact that there seem to be a few other choice tracks (Robert Randolph with the Clark Sisters, to name one). I just find Jon Bon Jovi's toss in a bit of a stretch, sort of like when Black Sabbath's Ronnie James Dio recorded God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen for a Christmas compilation in '08. Although, as vocalists, I like them both.

As for Jonny, as well as Michael Macdonald--straight pentecostal jamming . . .

Oh, and click on "Listen," if you want to hear the whole song, "I Believe," featuring Jonny Lang.

Short Attention Span

I was driving with my 16 year old niece this evening, running errands, and I noticed the way she channel surfs the radio. Like, there's no possible way she knows what's playing on a given station because she may stay on a station a nano-second before moving on. Once she hears one chord of something she recognizes, then she stops and listens. But if something is not engaging her immediately, then it's time to move on.

And not only does she not listen to something long enough to even know if she'll like it, but commercials are definitely out. And tonight four or five stations were playing severe weather warnings for our area and the incessant beeping would not have caught her attention if I hadn't said something.

Now once she finds something that qualifies as "a good song", then we have to turn it up to mind numbing levels and sing along.

So what does this say about getting messages (such as the Gospel) through to today's kids? I don't know, exactly, except that it appears to me that a spoken/sung message (as on the radio) has to really stand out from all the rest or be really familiar to get a notice.

Link of the Day

Here is a cool website that lets you create a word cloud out of text you provide.

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

March Madness: Week 1

After the first day of games on Thursday night I laughed. (Humbly, of course, but still--I laughed.) Bracket host (and 90&9 staffer) Bradley McDonald was ranked below his mother, his father, and his wife. (Rumors had it that his dog was too loyal to embarrass poor Bradley by signing up.)

Now the first two rounds of March Madness have been completed and I'm not laughing (even humbly) anymore.

We've got 15 people participating in 90&9's (almost) annual NCAA pool and--unexpected as it sounds--11 people are ahead of me. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, but that group includes my wife (10th) and my 11-year-old son who has never done this before, but now thinks he's invincible. (Rumors have it that my dog is too loyal to embarrass me by signing up.)

The Standings (with the good sports placing beneath me not included to protect their jobs and/or academic standings):

1 Kenny Chessor
2 RJ Aycock
3 Shirley McDonald
4 David Bunch
5 Caleb Curry
6 Jaime McDonald
7 Bradley McDonald
7 Marsupial Jones
9 Bobby McDonald
10 Nita Curry
11 Kimberly Rigney
12 Kent Curry

You should've signed up. It's fun!

Here's To Monday

Here's wishing everyone a happy Monday and a great rest of the week.

A day in the mind of Dave: Here's what's going on in my head today.

• I'm making an effort to read the Bible through this year. I've selected The One Year Bible (New Living Translation). It's pretty cool because it has the daily readings all worked out. You get a little bit of OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs each day. It's also been interesting reading this translation. Previous Bible read thru's have been King James.
• Michael Tait will now be the Newsboys' front man on tour. Peter Furler is out. Come to think of it, their voices are pitched similarly.
• I came across this worship artist by the name of Travis Taylor. As far as I know, he hasn't hit "the scene" which suits me just fine. He makes great worship music with a great retro sound, somewhat like Leeland with much more to say lyrically. We need to be singing his songs.
• A new biography on John Lennon is out. I noticed it in Ireland but couldn't afford to pony up the pounds (that's currency) on something that I may or may not actually read. It showed up at the local library so I borrowed. I'll let you know how it turns out.
• Baton Rouge got it's second, second hand book store while I was away in Ireland. This is huge, guys, this is huge. Besides the fact that the second hand book trade seems to be dying, Baton Rouge is not exactly a repository of used book dealers. As a second hand book junky, this makes me very happy indeed.
• Here's to prayer and fasting. It seems that there has been a lot of talk on the social networks about fasting, and I even joined a fasting group on Facebook. I think it is a good thing because it's like group support for fasters or something. I've also noticed a lot of Daniel's fasts and the like, which I think is good. Maybe some would argue that it's an easy way out, but I don't think so. I think it shows that we want to get close to God and that there are ways to do that in our way-too-fast-paced society.

Strange Fire: Ramblings on Rock Music and Worship

Can music that is not intended to create an atmosphere of worship still be worship?  Can music that is meant to entertain people still be offered as a sacrifice to God?  After reading the most recent musical musings of Ms. Ahrens, I feel compelled to do a little ruminating of my own.  A well-written, thought-provoking post deserves some kind of response from those it engages, even if it is not as well-written or thought-provoking.

 

If all of life is worship--a concept I deeply believe--then the truest sacrifice is bringing every aspect of oneself under the authority of God.  Entertainment is certainly one area of life that needs to be given to God.  What does this mean in a practical sense?  Does it mean that we should not enjoy or participate in art or entertainment?  Does it mean that all of the entertainment/art that we enjoy should be kid-friendly?  I think the examples given in the Bible demand a more nuanced answer.

 

But for some reason, when it comes to music, the overwhelming AP expectation is that it create an atmosphere of worship.  The expectation, sometimes becoming as strong as a demand, is that listeners feel uplifted or feel like praising.  The idea of a Christian producing music purely for entertainment, or even music that is not kid-friendly doesn't sit well with many APs.

 

Sometimes the proverbially tortured artist needs to express his emotions through his guitar.  Sometimes she needs to pour her heart out in song.  And such music may not always be uplifting.  Consider the bitter and hate-filled Psalm 137, the offensively violent celebration of Moses, or the explicit and sexual love song of Solomon.  Can such powerful emotions be musically expressed by Christians today?  Is there room in the Church to receive these expressions of worship, even if they do not create an atmosphere of praise?  If so, maybe musicians will feel more comfortable giving these feelings to God through their music.

 

josh r

U2 - No Line on the Horizon

U2's new and much awaited studio album dropped last week. As you know, I've been an observer of U2 for a long time, both because of their Irish connection and their God connection (this last one is debatable, but hey, at one time there was enough evidence surrounding them that some critics accused them of being a Christian band).

I have not purchased the record, but the band is streaming it at their website so I have listened to it in it's entirety.

I couldn't really collect my thoughts and state how I felt about the album until I read what Donald Miller had to say about it. I think he sums it up pretty well.

Among the challenges he feels the band faced in making this album:

Go ahead and speak your spiritual themes, but don’t get too Christian. It’s uncool. Really uncool. Not that you care but you do. Walk the line between expressing the powerful redemptive themes in your work and translating those themes to a western audience that puts those themes in the box of absurd anti-science and judgmental condemnation. Make people who know Jesus think you’re talking about Jesus but don’t talk about Jesus. And do this with a clean conscious. And mean what you sing.

Continue to appeal to a young generation you may not understand. These kids are into technology. They Twitter and blog and have the attention span of gnats. They think you’re old because their parents like you. but they’ve got the money, so throw them a bone. The twenty-somethings are all crazy about Radiohead.

A Return of the Irish Prodigal on St. Paddy's Day

There's nothing like sitting down with old friends and catching up over a nice cup of coffee. Or as it would be in Ireland, a wee cup of tea.

So, "grab a cup o' tea from yer man thar and listen because I've got some great craic for youse".

First let me say hello to everyone, and it is absolutely great to be back here at 90&9 blogging and engaging in the dialogue. The move to Northern Ireland was the experience of a lifetime, and we are so honored to have had the chance to serve the Kingdom in a foreign field

Ireland is as picturesque, as provincial, as divided, and as Irish as you've heard. There's a million little things I'd like to share over the coming weeks, but for now let me just hit on a couple of big things.

• God poured out His Spirit in a great way, and we were able to see many lives changed by the Gospel message. Besides the thriving work in Northern Ireland, God has just opened a huge door in Dublin (literally in the center of the city).
• Just because both cultures speak English does not guarantee good communication. The first time someone told me that the "craic" (spoken "crack") was good here I started looking around to see if anyone was stoned.
• Sixty degrees during the day and forty at night are my idea of the perfect summer.
• The Irish love Americans. For the most part that is. I guess every culture has the occasional numb skull.
• Place names like Dromore, Inniskillen, Sligo, Ballemena, and Scarva are cool.
• Never, repeat never, ask an Irishman for directions. More on this later...
• Pray for Ireland. Just since we've been home there has been an increase in violence with the threat of more. Regardless of how political this looks in the headlines, it is spiritual. Trust me. More on this later....

So we are now home in the US trying to re-integrate into our society again. Lots of the stereotypes that other nations place on Americans are there because....we deserve them! Yeah. In Ireland you have to go looking for McDonalds and Starbucks. They don't just come to you. So we've had to get our bodies used to 6,000 calories and a milkshake all over again, among a million other subtle differences that you never notice until they are not there.

A couple of things I've found interesting lately:

• My wife has blogged throughout the journey here.
• Here is a great article in the Belfast Telegraph about the slang used in Northern Ireland. Scroll down below the picture to the message board. This may be totally lost on anyone who hasn't been there, but I thought it was good craic.
• Last Sunday our High School class discussed the article Kent blogged regarding the collapse of Evangelical Christianity. My thoughts: it makes a lot of sense. People are more educated now and "because the church says so" won't do it. We've got to re-think a lot of things. And why would the church ever think "political"...see, I told you...
• Darius Rucker has a song called "It Won't Be Like This For Long" that I heard on the nice entertainment console provided for me by Continental whilst soaring thousands of feet over the Atlantic. I cried all the way through. What little girls do to their daddies' hearts....

Okay, I guess I'm rambling now, but I assure you that I have not kissed the Blarney Stone.

Oh, and thanks for the tea...it sure was brill.

March Madness Baby!

Won't you join 90&9's March Madness brackets for fun and glory? You have to create an ID, but it's not intrusive (except to remind you to sign up again next time the NCAAs occur).

If you sign up, at least give one of your real names (first or last) & state you're from so we can share the praise w/everyone.

Here's the info:

You are invited to join my online NCAA March Madness bracket group! To accept this invitation and join the group, click the link below (or cut and paste the link into your browser's address bar). You'll be asked to enter the group's password before you can join. The group password is included below.

http://90and9.mayhem.cbssports.com/e?referrer=MKTG_BM_INVITE

Our Group password is: flock

It Goes Something Like This . . .

It's been a few weeks since I've shared with you all the details of my ongoing job hunt. Basically I couldn't take any more of this ...


... so I packed up my suitcase and went to sunny (and slightly warmer) California for a week.

I got home last Thursday and prepared to start packing up my apartment to put everything in storage and move in with a friend when I had a small miracle take place. My landlord called and said he and his wife had discussed it and if it would help me out and make it so that I could stay they would lower my rent AND the company I've been working part-time for increased my hours to full-time until our project launches at the beginning of May!

So, while I'm still in desperate need of a permanent full-time job, and still may have to pack up and move in May, at least one major obstacle is no longer an issue. One small step for God, one giant leap for me!

The Collapse of Evangelical Christianity

We are on the verge--within 10 years--of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity...  Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants.  At least according to a gentleman by the name of Michael Spencer .  In an insightful and challenging (and prophetic?) article, he spells out why evangelical Christianity will fail, what to expect, and the opportunities that such a collapse will give rise to.

 

Why is evangelicalism doomed?  According to Spencer, it boils down to a confusion of identity and a loss of theological depth.  We have identified ourselves too closely with the culture war and political conservatism.  We teach our young people why they should be against gay marriage or abortion more than we teach them about Jesus.

 

We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

 

At the same time we have forgotten to teach foundational biblical principles.

 

Our young people... do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community.

 

So what can we expect in the near future?  As the evangelical movement begins to dissolve, what survives will certainly change shape.  3 major points:

 

1. Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith.

 

2. Charismatic-Pentecostal Christianity will become the majority report in evangelicalism.

 

3. Expect a fragmented response to the culture war. Some Evangelicals will work to create their own countercultures...  Some will continue to see conservatism and Christianity through one lens... A significant number, however, may give up political engagement for a discipleship of deeper impact.

 

Is there any good in this?  Such a dynamic shift will provide many opportunities for a deeper Christianity.  While mega-church sentimentalists will cling to a shallow, numbers-oriented spirituality, others will choose to deepen their foundational understanding of the Gospel.  While some will try to adapt to the changing culture by emphasizing pragmatic, consumer-driven Christianity, others will follow the example of Pentecostalism and step into a more Spirit-led Christianity.

 

We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.

 

We need new evangelicalism that learns from the past and listens more carefully to what God says about being His people in the midst of a powerful, idolatrous culture.

 

Change is always painful, but if we believe that God is in control then it is also a process filled with hope that He is changing us into something better.

 

josh r

Battle of the (Apostolic) Social Networking Sites

It is probably fair to say that most of us have accounts on at least one social networking site, if not on two or three. Much in the same way message boards were the craze a few years back, social media networks (SMN) such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have become a common part of our daily (and even hourly) lives.

About five or six years ago Everyone's Connected (EC) became all the rage. It was not intended to be an Apostolic networking site but within a few years it truly seemed as if EC had been taken over by Apostolics. Somewhere around a year ago (sorry if I'm fuzzy on the exact timeline) EC was actually take over/bought out by some other company who completely changed the layout, etc. and the site was abandoned en mass in favor of Everyone's Apostolic (EA) - a site created specifically for social networking among Apostolics and run by Apostolics.

However, the recent announcement by EA that they would begin charging membership fees has created an uproar (and seriously people can someone explain to me why church people always have a problem paying for something that they view as "church" related? bandwidth is ridiculously expensive and the only options are to pay for it through membership fees or allowing advertising) that has people once again abandoning ship and other enterprising folks starting their own Apostolic networking sites.

The Apostolic Report states that several sites have been developed using the same software that runs Everyone's Apostolic, including "Unashamedly Conservative Apostolics" which only allows you to join if you are 1) a conservative apostolic, 2) invited, and 3) if your pastor is also a member. If you're looking for something a bit less authoritarian there is Apostolic Fellowship Hall, which provides such features as,

the ability of users to create Blogs, add posts to Groups as well as create their own groups, add photo albums, and videos to their home page. Advertise in the classified section, create pages, post to the wire (a twitter like feature), add and share bookmarks (similar to sites such as stumble upon, digg and reddit), And post questions which other users may then answer.

You can also try "My Apostolic Network" and "Apostolics Online".

Personally, I'm all for keeping my basic EA account (which I admit is rarely used) and using Facebook for everything else. After all, within a few months there will probably be some new hot technology that will make Facebook a ghost town and I'll have to learn a new technology.

The Robots Are Coming!

In a distinctly Asimovian turn of events, the Japanese robot, Saya, has added another job title to her resumé.  Although in the past she has served as a receptionist at Tokyo University, she is now using her skills to teach elementary school students in Japan.  Those skills include speaking multiple languages, assigning set tasks to the students, calling roll, and perhaps most frighteningly, getting angry when students misbehave. 

 

Other robots are currently being used as traffic wardens, and one is currently being constructed that will be a companion for those who suffer from Alzheimer's.  Saya's inventor caims that robots with the physical and mental skills of a two-year-old will be available within just a few years.  Not long after that Skynet will probably achieve self-awareness.

 

josh r

Healthiest Fast Food Restaurants

Some amazingly specific, healthy tips for eating at Taco Bell, McDonalds, and especially big winner Chick-Fil-A!

"To separate the commendable from the deplorable, we calculated the total number of calories per entrée. This gave us a snapshot of how each restaurant compared in average serving size—a key indicator of unhealthy portion distortion. Then we rewarded establishments with fruit and vegetable side-dish choices, as well as for providing whole-grain options. Finally, we penalized places for excessive amounts of trans fats and menus laden with gut-busting desserts. What we ended up with is the Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Report Card, which will show you how all of the nation’s largest eating establishments stack up nutritionally."

What I want to know is how White Castle ranked!

The Evolution of Charles Darwin

 

Who was Charles Darwin?  What were the events and situations that made his view so appealing? Why is he worshiped today as the father of evolution? What were Darwin's bluffs which are exposed by creationists today? What should Christians learn from the silence of Christians in Darwin's day?

 

Join John Martin and Gateway Christian Church of St. Louis, MO for an in-depth discussion of these questions.  John Martin has a background in zoology as well as a Master's Degree from Urshan Graduate School of Theology.  On the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth,  this promises to be a fascinating presentation!

 

Click here for John Martin's blog, Creation Moment.

 

Click here for driving directions to Gateway Christian Church.

 

josh r

Samson's Side of the Story

In honor of a new week and the 12 inches of snow outside my door we're going for something light and fluffy today (we'll go back to the depressing job search soon enough). Enjoy!



(find more Tim Hawkins on tangle.com - formerly godtube.com)

Recreation Of Sudden, Unexplained Cosmic Explosion . . .Um, Scheduled For Spring Or Something

See the diagram up there? This is an overhead, angular schematic of a seventeen-mile long supercollider, a ridiculously expensive, complex and overwrought system of tubes, tunnels and rare-earth magnets.

All to accomplish what? To re-create the big-bang.

I've touched on this before. Never once in all of the neo-Darwinist reporting of this collider's continued problems, is the sheer, penetrating irony ever pointed out; that a universe that supposedly "exploded," unaided and with no purpose emanating from a purposeful mind surely must have done so without a borderline comic, Rube-Goldberg contraption that looks like a prop-cull from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

Granted, in recent days, particularly the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, we have seen even more hostility to the idea that Darwin's theories are nearly all incorrect. What we haven't seen yet, is equal, sneering guffaws from mainstream science for the goofy substitutions passed off as science, but in reality amount to a godless, theological claims without all that, you know, moral baggage attached to it, like the Cambrian Explosion (the explanation as to why fully-developed species are the only things one can find in the fossil record, with no intermediate precursors).

Of course my favorite of these theories comes from the late Dr. Francis Crick, a co-discoverer of DNA. First, note Crick's assessment of how life on Earth is certainly a scientific paradox:

"an honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going."

How does this supremely intelligent, rational, skeptical mind explain this? With a theory called Directed Panspermia:

proposing that these basic forms, or “life-seeds,” were deliberately spread in all directions by some advanced alien race in an effort to begin life wherever they may have landed.

Anything to to keep from looking into the face of God. Even if we have to build NASA-quality amusement parks to do it.

-R

The Planet is Doomed!!

Thanks to the crazy presidential election coverage and the crazy economy, Americans are watching more television than ever before.  For the average American, viewing time has gone up from 145 hours a month to 151 hours a month.  That works out to about 5 hours every day. 

 

 

Of course, lack of money is the driving motive, but the methods are dramatically increased for many.  People are watching more TV because people have more TV sets.  The average U.S. household now contains more TV sets than people.  This allows each person in the house to watch their own special shows.  Add to this the fact that more people are utilizing TiVo and other DVRs.  This allows them to watch time-shifted television instead of just relying on what is playing when they are ready to watch as in the olden days.  Add to this the fact that it is becoming more popular to watch television over the internet.  Add to this the fact that people are watching even more on their cell phones.  It's no wonder people are watching more television! 

 

I believe that TV, like any technology, is a tool that is morally neutral.  However, hearing such statistics makes a media fast sound both spiritually and mentally healthy (not to mention thwarting the evil schemes of aliens).   Imagine what we would have time for if we were not constantly distracted by music, social networking sites, sports, celebrity gossip, and all the other media junk we tend to feed ourselves.  How much time do you waste on mindless entertainment each month?  Just something to think about...

 

josh r

Rumination On Purpose

"Christianity has fought, still fights, and will continue to fight science to the desperate end over evolution, because evolution destroys utterly and finally the very reason Jesus’ earthly life was supposedly made necessary. Destroy Adam and Eve and the original sin, and in the rubble you will find the sorry remains of the Son of God. If Jesus was not the redeemer who died for our sins, and this is what evolution means, then Christianity is nothing."

G. Richard Bozarth, ‘The Meaning of Evolution’, American Atheist, p. 30. 20 September 1979.

Aps You May Know . . . (Chaplaincy Division)

UGST graduate and fanatical Risk player Michael Krog sent this on the verge of becoming another Apostolic chaplain:


Hello all,

Attached are pictures of my promotion and "pinning on" ceremony of the Chaplain's Cross. Brother Gerald Truman, the first UPC-endorsed Chaplain in the US Military, is the one administering my Oath of Office. He pinned the cross on me and Jen pinned my new rank.

Jen and I are very excited about reporting to Ft. Campbell next week. Please join us in prayer for a smooth transition and for the Unit I will be incorporated into. Thank you everyone for your love, support and prayers during the past few years.

Praise the Lord for His goodness and direction!

God Bless,
CH (CPT) Michael Krog
+++++++

Congratulations on yet another Apostolic shining a light in an important career field!

Aps You May Know . . . (Creative Division)

UPCer Rick Brewer shared the disappointing news that he didn't win the Rascal Flatts CD cover contest:

Hey guys,

I wanted to write those who had not received word on whether or not I had won. I did not. However, I have to say I enjoyed seeing the support and help from everyone involved. The emails, blogs, posts and other forms of interaction I had with everyone made it an uplifting couple of weeks. I'm sorry I could not bring you all home a win, but there will be a next time! Thank you sincerely for all your time and effort!

Take care!
Rick
++++

Hey Rick - you made the Final Four! That's plenty to be proud of!

D-Day

Well, D-day has arrived and I am still not fully employed. So I'm sitting here trying to decide how to word the "Dear John" (or Ed, as the case may be) letter to my landlord telling him that I'm moving out at the end of March. Next comes the packing, finding a storage unit, changing the address on anything mail related, etc. Oh joy.

I've got to admit that I'm a bit disappointed. Somewhere deep inside I think I figured that God would swoop in at the last second and drop a job in my lap, or a check in my mail or something. Of course that could still happen and then all I'll have to do is find a new apartment.

On the upside, I've made it since last Thursday without having a complete breakdown.

I'm trying to decide if my struggle with all of this relates to my having issues with trusting the Lord or with my innate nature (aka being a control freak). Many years ago a friend accused me of not trusting the Lord over an issue and I adamantly denied it claiming that I totally trust the Lord. I know that he doesn't intend anything evil/bad/unprofitable/fill-in-the-blank-here for me; I just struggle with wanting to know what he does intend so that I can prepare for it and be at peace over what comes next whatever it may be. It's an argument that I've repeated at multiple times over the intervening years.

But everything that is going on in my life right now is forcing me to reexamine this question and ask "is it possible to really trust the Lord AND be a control freak?"