Here and Now

Here's my wife's nerd test. You may remember that I am Cool Nerd King :) Well, Lori, it turns out, is: So, opposites attract, eh? Yeah, I knew she'd beat me in everything. Uber cool she is...

Last Sunday, Larry Norman died. He was 60 years old. Larry is often considered the Father of Christian Rock - or somesuch... He was a pioneer, no doubt about that. There was a lot of controversy that surrounded him - maybe he was hard to work with, I don't know. I've heard that some in the "CCM Industry" who would laud him publicly (and, you know, record his songs and stuff) would criticize him privately. He made some pretty wild accusations, no doubt about that (apparently Larry wrote a song called The Tune that somehow he says Bill Gaither ripped off in the song "God Gave the Song" - okay, maybe he took the CONCEPT, but, really, listen to "The Tune" above, and then listen to this - Bill Gaither talking about "God Gave the Song" - which sounds like, if something was done it was done by Ron Huff...but I digress. I mean, yeah, it's got a lot in common - but...well, I don't know... Larry says that it was Gaither's biggest hit...

Okay, now I like Brian McLaren. So I'm wrestling with this one. Of course http://www.alittleleaven.com/ HATES Brian McLaren - But they'd probably hate my blog, too... I had a long conversation about this one on Friday. Here's a transcript, in case you don't want to watch the video, can't watch the video, or just prefer having all the words in front of you like I do. The voice of, I presume, the interviewer is in brackets: This is one of the huge problems with the uh the traditional understanding of hell. Because if the cross is in line with Jesus’ teaching, then and I won’t say the only, and I certainly won’t say the...or even the primary but a primary meaning of the cross is that the Kingdom of God doesn’t come like kingdoms of this world by inflicting violence and coercing people but that the Kingdom of God comes through suffering and willing and voluntary sacrifice. Right? [Um-hm] But in an ironic way the doctrine of hell basically says no but that’s not really ...

Heh - I took the nerd test

From a friend: Open Google type: find chuck norris hit (this is important) "I Feel Lucky" Enjoy...

Tony Campolo - From his book The Kingdom of God Is a Party writes: Up a side street I found a little place that was still open. I went in, took a seat on one of the stools at the counter, and waited to be served. This was one of those sleazy places that deserves the name, "greasy spoon." I did not even touch the menu. I was afraid that if I opened the thing something gruesome would crawl out. But it was the only place I could find. The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked me, "What d'ya want?" I said I wanted a cup of coffee and a donut… As I sat there munching on my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door of the diner suddenly swung open and, to my discomfort, in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place, and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was loud and crude. I felt completely out of place and was just about to make my getaway when I overheard the woman beside me say, "Tomo...

It's Saturday morning here - I'm at a camp with about 50 youth. Check out www.time4revolution.com to see what the scoop is on this group of youth leaders in the Warren area. Last night J talked about the church being community - that we have a tendency to think in terms of our own spiritual development - our "personal relationship with Jesus" - and how we isolate ourselves by over personalizing our faith. But we were created for community - the CHURCH is fundamentally community - not individual faith. He called it "I am WE" - it was really good stuff. I know, maybe not your typical youth retreat subject matter. The idea of these retreats is to give the youth deep and practical stuff to go home with. Last year I talked about poop. Yep - I'll forever be the poop guy... There's a need in our culture to not just entertain the kids - but to prepare them for a life of faith. It's all well and good to go bowling and have a snowball fight - that...

Saturday night we went to church camp for a "Sweetheart Dinner." One of the couples from our church invited us and we were really looking forward to dinner. The entertainment was some guy named "Doc Salmon." I didn't really read the flyer too closely - I knew we were having stuffed pork chops and there was entertainment. When Doc Salmon started, we were surprised by his subject matter - he talked a lot about sex. Now, understand - nothing he said particularly offended me (it was a little disjointed - partly because the sound system at the camp really needs replaced - and partly because he kept throwing in odd little moments, like showing us how to get out of bed in the morning if our backs are hurting). All in all, it was just a really strange night for me. As it turns out, if I had actually READ the ad for the night instead of glancing at it and ASSUMING that I knew what was going to happen, well, I wouldn't have even been surprised that night (I'm...

Well - I just finished watching the Superbowl. For two weeks I've been preparing to root against the Patriots. Truth is, I didn't really care who played against them, I just wanted them to lose. It's not very sportsman-like, I know...but it was the truth... But something happened as I watched the game. I went from rooting against the Patriots to rooting for the Giants. I mean I really started to want them to win. And when they got the ball back with 2:42 in the fourth quarter, down by 4...well, I was riveted. It was, literally here, a nail-biter... Great game. Even had the Giants lost, it would have been a great game. But I'm glad they won. So I was just thinking. Maybe the election will be like the Superbowl. You see, I don't really like any of the candidates - which has happened before - so I end up voting AGAINST somebody. But maybe as the actual election draws nearer, one of the front runners will actually start to look good to me. Maybe this is the ...