the post from an iPod touch

For my birthday, I was given an iPod Touch. it is an amazing device.

Worthwhile reading

I found this post by Prodigal Jon a great reminder of God and his forgiveness. It is titled "Stuff Christians Like #387 - Thinking our Junk will shock God".

GetReligion.org

Because Terry Mattingley, one of my favorite religion writers posts there, I subscribed to the GetReligion.org blog this week.

It has been an interesting read.  What have I learned?

• The writer of Basic Instinct is now a Christian
• The importance of asking the right follow-up question at the Democratic National Convention.
• The conflict (none?) former porn star Jenna Jamison finds with being a "devout Catholic" and having babies without a husband.
• Faith at the Democratic National Convention

It has been interesting reading.

Reading, Reading, Reading...

I've been pretty silent about what I have been reading (actually I've been pretty quiet anyway).

Let me say first that the books on this list may not be for everyone.  They are deep, they don't necessarily follow traditional thought, although, they don't deviate as far as some would claim.  Lastly, they are all books I enjoyed and learned from.

Easily one of the longest titles, A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All" by Doug Pagitt left me wanting more. Much of it is first hand stories from his life.

Much more deep, N. T. Wright's "What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?" was an interesting and deep glimpse into Paul's life and thought processes.  The take away from this for me is the cultural setting Paul wrote in.  Especially when most of the epistles start similar to "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ".  In the culture he is in, Paul was risking death as he just wrote -- "Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not".

Finally, N. T. Wright's "Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship" was amazing.  He took sermons he had preached which were high level summaries of several books in the New Testament and brought each one back to the Eucharist.

Currently I am reading "The Shack" by William P. Young which is a fictional account of his character's meeting God in three persons.  I have friends that can not say enough good about the book and others that didn't like it at all.  So far, I'm liking it.  The biggest problem is the hype around the book.

Cardboard Testamonies

I found this on another blog and thought it was pretty cool.

I am still trying to figure out what I would put.

Politics.... It's starting all over

I got a call last night from someone in the Obama campaign.   They were nice enough to ask if I would support him in the upcoming election.

I replied that I am a registered voter but an independent (meaning I am not registered with either party) and don't know enough of the issues to make that determination.

One of the podcasts that I listen to recently interviewed Mike Huckabee.  You can download and listen to it here.  It was a good interview and Huckabee impressed me.

A few months ago, they also interviewed Tim Sanders. You can listen to that interview here.  Sanders is an author, not a politician.  I have read at least one of his books ("Love is the killer app").  He was asked about the "likeability" of the crop of politicians.  He explained the Bill Clinton had a high "likeability factor".  Even his enemies, when talking to him in person had a hard time disliking him.

He was then asked about the candidates in the primaries.  He said Obama was the most likable, much like Kenedy which frightened him as it makes him a pretty big target.

Neither candidate from the major parties is ideal.  Politics is all about compromise which sometimes means nobody is really happy with the result.