Coverville - Just gotta' hype it!

One of my favorite podcasts to listen to is Coverville. Editions #159-162 are the end of the year countdown.

Part 2 happens to have 3 of what I would call my favorites that I have heard since listening. Two are the same title but different artists.

Comfortably Numb: Originally done by Pink Floyd, there are two versions. The first is by Copper Box, a sort of "Folk/Bluegrass" band. The second is by the Scissor Sisters and sounds more like the Bee Gees met Pink Floyd. I think the reason I like these are they are really quirky!

What a Wonderful World: Louis Armstrong did this one first but this version is done by Joey Ramone. It was actually in the movie "Freaky Friday". This one just rocks.

You can download podcast #160 (yes, for free -- and it is legal!) and listen to it at the Coverville website. You will want broadband or be willing to wait quite a while for it. My opinion, it's worth the wait!

There's no place like home.

No, we didn't return from Kansas but Dorothy was right on the money.

We spent Christmas in Iowa. While it was wonderful seeing family we hadn't seen for a year or more, we had our challenges. We took our dog along. He was quite good while in the car, he was a challenge at my parents. Seems he saw the ghosts of dogs past, present and future.

He hit our back yard and was running and jumping. I would have done the same if I had not had to unpack the car!

#27

No, not somebody's jersey number, not only is tomorrow the 27th of the month but is the 27th year of being married to my wife!!!!

Just another chance for a proud father to brag...

These are 1" pine boards. I put the ruler there to show that it is not insignificant.

In October (before I started blogging), Kyle attended a board breaking class at Karate. This is more of a "fun" night as it doesn't teach the normal dicipline that normally goes along with Karate.

Kyle broke the small one first. Nearly centered as you can see. Next he was able to break the large one, also nearly centered. Both of these were done with strikes from his hand!

It goes to show you how much force a small guy can generate!

Web 2.0? How do I upgrade?

A new buzzword going around is "Web 2.0". I know that if you are reading this and have not heard of Web 2.0 you are probably wondering about things like...

• Why do I care? (a: You may not!)
  
• What was Web 1.0?
  
• Why the change?
  
• What difference does it make to me? (a: maybe nothing)
• How do I upgrade?
  

I am not sure I can answer those questions without getting too "Geek" but here is a shot.

In an article called "What is Web 2.0", they talk about the differences. Some of the differences are because technology has enabled the change, most, however are just reapplication of existing technology.

The best definition I have found from that article is "...that they have embraced the power of the web to harness collective intelligence..."

Examples of this new thought are Wikipedia, Flikr, Frappr! and even this Blogger blog that I am typing into. Thanks to the fact that Amazon allows its customers to review items it ranks in the Web 2.0 category.

What does this have to do with me? You? I am actually not sure. I have been impacted by this slow revolution as you can see here. I also need to change the way I think about things like the web and how to get more into the Web 2.0 mindset. How will it affect you? I don't know that either. Will you start a blog? Have you started a blog? Do you read the reviews at Amazon before you buy? Do you look things up on Wikipedia rather than elsewhere? Will you start storing you photos online to share with others at a place like Flikr?

What I do see from this is that our disconnected internet driven society is looking for connections and commonalities within it's rather large (but extremely small in many ways) world.

P.S. - Just to give you an idea of the scope of this, as I was typing this blog, I had the signup page for this site up. During that whole time, I was watching updated blog's click by at around 1/second (maybe not quite that fast). They are tagging times 1 hour behind my update!

Six Degrees

There is a theory called Six Degrees of Seperation which roughly states that we are only six acquaintences away from being connected to all the people in the world.

I ran across a picture of my Aunt and Uncle posing with President George Bush last spring. I guess that moves me up a couple of degrees. I posted the picture with permission from my Aunt and Uncle, I didn't bother asking President Bush.

Hey Man, what's your God?

I was able to sit down and talk to a friend who is a pastor of a well known denomination. One of the thoughts he triggered was, "What is your God?".

We were discussing the Reggie McNeal book "The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church". We talked about some of the things that created the so called "Worship Wars" within churches. These include things like:

• Worship styles... Contemporary vs Traditional
• Sticking to denominational identities, even when there is baggage associated with it.
• Unwillingness to become more specific in your ministry (i.e. Do you have a teen service with different style than your regular service? What about services for those that do not like contemporary sounds or services).

It really all comes down to "What is your God?".

In their "Wired For Worship" series at National Community Church, Mark Batterson states that "You can't Not worship". Mark defines worship as "Giving credit where credit is due. Sin (fill in the blank) is giving credit to anyone besides God for anything". Is your god the building you meet in? Your family? Your job? Your worship style?

Kicked Back!

Vacation! Not quite to this extent, in fact, the weather won't allow this outside unless you have a coat like theirs. What have I found to do? Relax. Marj and Kyle still have school for a couple of days but I get to kick back. I did get the pleasure of having lunch with my friends Scott, Dan and Dave one day. Hanging out with the dog (see below) and ordering a few presents on line. Mostly, however, KICKED BACK!

Lions, witches and wardrobes

Friday night, Marj, Kyle and I went to see the Chronicals of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was wonderful for all of us to see the book we so much enjoyed embodied in a movie.

No, it wasn't exactly the same as the book, no movie ever really could be. I do think the point of the book got across if you are open to hearing about it, and if not? Ask somebody!

One of the Podcasts I listen to on a regular basis is the message from Liquid Church, a rather different church, located in New Jersey. The pastor there spoke on Sunday about "Narnia, The Deeper Magic". This message is, in fact, labeled part one so I suspect there is a part two and maybe beyond. Not to belabor the post, if you missed the point of the movie or are even wondering, listen to this!

On Love....

About a year ago, I read Buck-Naked Faith by Eric Sandras. It has nothing to do with being naked but everything to do with your relationship with God.

One of the things mentioned in there was St. Bernard of Clairvaux's (1090-1153) work on Loving God. In Buck-Naked Faith, he talked about the four levels of love for God and how each relates to the way you view God at the time.

The levels are:

1. Love of Self for Self's Sake.
2. Love of God for Self's Sake.
3. Love of God for God's Sake.
4. Love of Self for God's Sake.

I'll let you read either Clairvaux's "On Loving God" or find a copy of Buck-Naked Faith to better explain each. What I find interesting is how the lyrics of the music we listen to relate to these four items.

Much of what I hear on the typical radio station is all about me, me, me (Level 1).

On your typical Christian radio you hear a lot of "Level 2" love. I immediately think of "Amazing Grace" and "Just as I am". This is not bad but...

In much worship music you hear a lot of "Level 3". What comes to mind are songs I have recently learned like "How Great Is Our God" or "Holy is the Lord".

I don't know that I can identify any "Level 4" lyrics, can you help?

Boxing up God?

Last week, our Life Group (church small group) watched the Indescribable message from Louie Giglio called "Significant Insignificance". Our church has also been doing a series on worship called "Facedown". In the DVD, the message talks about how big God is and how small we are. At the same time, God still knows our name and wants us to have a personal relationship with him.

In the first message of the series, Rob Kelly also mentioned that we should not be putting God into a box.

It struck me that whenever we try to describe God by his attributes, we tend to create a box for God. I am not trying to say that listing these attributes is bad but it is bad when we stop because God is so much bigger than we think. The other thing we need to think about when we do that is put more importance on one of God's attributes than some other attribute. My challenge for this week is to remember how Big God really is and how small I REALLY AM!

Kyle's Green Belt!

Kyle's power weekend went well. He got his green belt today. Marj and I were proud of him.

[Kyle speaking now] This is my instructor Scott and me. Today, I started off as a yellow tip (A yellow belt with one degree). I was given my orange belt then shortly after that, Scott called Kaleb and me forward and gave us our green belt also. Daddy took this picture after the class today.

Miyagi-do?

Kyle got his Gold Tip belt today in Karate. Between his activity, the recent death of Pat Morita and a recent post on "God's Way" by Rob Kelly, it got me thinking.

I was told that in the movie the "Karate Kid" movie, there is a scene where Daniel is in a tournament and is asked who he studies with. His reply was "Miyagi-do". Kyle was told that a word suffixed in "do" means "The Way Of".

After you read "God's Way", you need to decide if you study with "Jesus-do" or somewhere else.

One of my readers (or perhaps the only reader I have) suggested that the photo on my profile is a little too formal. In response, I am posting a more recent and much more informal photo. This was taken this summer at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio as we were boarding one of their "rides".

The month in review

November has been a busy month. At the beginning of the month, Marj, Kyle and I were able to go to the Chris Tomlin concert in Arvada. We were blessed to not only hear Chris and his band but also Matt Redman play and Louie Giglio speak.

The weekend of the 11th, I attended the No Fluff Just Stuff conference in Broomfield. While there, I got to speak with some of the icons of my profession like Dave Thomas (no, not the Wendy's Guy), Clinton Begin and Bruce Tate.

The next weekend, we attended the Cornerstone Christian Academy annual fund raiser banquet. Our table of guests included my sister and husband, my friends Kathy and Michelle and their husbands. If you are inclined to contribute, the school would put the money to great use! That was followed by our first dog training class at Pet Smart.

Thanksgiving weekend was spent relaxing with a meal at my sisters new house with her husband and in-laws on Thursday. Saturday and Sunday were spent rehearsing and playing the weekend services at Church. I was privileged to play the song Dan Wakefield, one of our worship leaders had written that week both before and after the service. He was kind enough to post his lyrics on his blog.

This is now...

Well, almost... This picture is a couple of months old and at the time, Rocky weighed in at about 40 pounds. 

That was then....

Last summer, Marj and Kyle picked up Rocky from a friend. When we got him he weighed around 10 pounds and was 11 weeks old.

We feed him Wellness Puppy Food on the recommendation of a friend who owns a feed store. 

This is my first entry into blogging and is my inaugural post.

What is a Blog? Wikipedia defines a blog as a website for which an individual or a group generates text, photographs, video, audio files, and/or links, typically but not always on a daily or otherwise regular basis. The term is a shortened form of weblog. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called "blogging". Individual articles on a blog are called "blog posts", "posts", or "entries". The person who posts these entries is called a "blogger".

You can consider this a "public diary" of my thoughts. This is something I have never been to reliable about doing but lately, there have been quite a few thoughts floating around in my brain. You never know what may pop out!