Washington DC - Wednesday

Wednesday was our first full day in DC. and we spent the day on the Mall.

We started the morning at the Smithsonian and ended up at the Capital. The day was rainy and we got quite wet.

We ended the day at the Crystal City Mall.

Washington DC - Day 1

It will be a little tedious trying to post from the iPod but here we go...

Our flights left on time from both Denver & Minneapolis. The trip so far has been uneventful... No misplaced kids, etc. So far, so good!

After we got to the hotel, unpacked and went to eat, we climbed onto the metro and rode to the mall between the Washington Monument & the Capital Building. The weather has been overcast with light to ocassionally heavy rain. Tomorrow, we are to get sunny & warm!

Off Line...

I'll not be blogging for the next week or so because Kyle and I will be on his 8th grade class trip to Washington DC.  Marj gets to hold down the home, feed the dogs, etc.

While I am there, my computer will be going to the Apple Store for a quick tune up.  Fortunately, I can download podcasts and check email on my iPod as long as I have a wi-fi connection, just don't expect a long reply.

re: The Coming Evangelical Collapse

I don't know how close to reality The Christian Science Monitor's piece on "The Coming Evangelical Collapse" is.  It is thought provoking, however.

The disclaimer is that, unlike in the Old Testament law, we no longer kill the prophets who are wrong -- if we had, there would be a whole lot of missing end-times prophets.

Thinking in God and Empire

There is a lot of thought coming through research by Christian scholars that seem to have pretty good evidence for something termed "God and Empire".

There are many people promoting this thought, including N. T. Wright and John Dominic Crossan.  Crossan even wrote a book called "God and Empire". Recent historical and archeological research tends to back this thinking up.

What is God and Empire thinking?  It is the belief that, during the time Christ, through the time of the early church, the Romans had a greater influence on the outcome of events than we give them credit for.  Generally, the thought goes something like this...

Four hundred years before Christ, the Israel was captured and sent into exile.  This exile was not only a physical exile but also a spiritual exile.  When they returned seventy years later, they were able to rebuild the walls and the temple (Nehemiah & Ezra - these are one book in the Jewish Bible) but they were not given the control of the government back -- something which is factoring into the look forward for a Messiah.  This page gives an historical view of the prophesy in Daniel 11 which talks about these future events.

That said, according to the "God and Empire" research, a few years prior to the birth of Jesus, the Caesars had turned the government from a republic and had started a Caesar cult, forcing the worship of Caesar as God.  Fearing a general uprising from Israel, however, they were given some latitude in their belief of God.

This belief that Caesar was God, however gained strength as Rome forced their "Pax Romana" (Roman Peace) on their people.  Now (as I have said before) when you read Romans 10:9, for instance, it will take on a new meaning.

What started me thinking about this is a discussion that we had at the flyball tournament about North Korea.  One of the people had seen a documentary of life there and commented how they thought of Kim Il-sung as God.  He is the one who provides their meager living and is the center of their thoughts.

So our question should be, what is the center of our thoughts?  Who provides us with our needs?   Is it God or our own empire (in my case, the United States)?

Our dogs have their first titles

At flyball today, we decided to have Rocky tested for the Canine Good Citizen.  This is basically a "lightweight" obedience test.  Being the good and well trained dog he is, he came through with flying colors.

After thinking about it, I decided to test Keva as well.  Keep in mind that we've had him for around 3 months but just took him through an obedience course with Clearwater Dog Training in Denver.

Keva didn't do quite as well but came through with his title as well...  We now have

Rocky, CGC   and Keva, CGC

Email Analysis

I received this from a friend today.  It is the second time I got one.  I'll comment below:

I so believe this, so I am sending on.

AFTER A DAY OF CONTEMPLATION AND SOUL SEARCHING, I HAVE DECIDED TO REACH OUT TO MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES AND ASK YOU TO DO SOMETHING THAT HAS BEEN TROUBLING ME FOR A LONG TIME.

OUR NATION IS/HAS BEEN ON THE SLIPPERY SLOPE TO HELL FOR A LONG TIME. IF YOU LOOK AROUND YOU WILL FIND CORRUPTION, GREED, MORAL DECAY AND A STEADY MOVE AWAY FROM THE THINGS THAT MADE US GREAT. THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THIS NATION WAS FOUNDED ARE NO LONGER OUR BACKBONE. HOWEVER, WE CAN REVERSE THIS TREND.

IN GOD'S WORD HE STATES,"IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, AND PRAY AND SEEK MY
FACE, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND."

I AM CONVINCED THAT WE MUST PRAY FOR OUR NATION AND ITS LEADERS AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS. SO I ASK YOU TO JOIN ME IN THIS PLEA TO OUR LORD.

WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND THIS TO AT LEAST 25 PEOPLE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, (SEND IT TO ALL OF THEM). ASK THEM TO
PRAY EVERYDAY. 25 TO THE 5TH POWER IS 9,765,625 PEOPLE. IMAGINE IF EACH PERSON REACHES TEN OTHERS.

IF YOU DO AND THEY COMPLY, WE WILL LIFT UP MILLIONS OF PRAYERS A DAY TO OUR CREATOR. HE WILL HEAR US AND IN
FAITH WILL ANSWER..

I have several issues with the text here... Lets see where to start.

• First, the email is in ALL CAPS. In internet speak, it is equivalent to yelling. While that may have been the intent, it makes it quite hard to read.  Now to the content...
  
• In the second paragraph, the author of this seems to make the assumption that our country was, at one point, a "Christian Nation".  We have, as a nation, rarely acted in a manner that would glorify God.  For many years, we enslaved people for the profits of the owners. Moved people groups to less desirable lands because we wanted the lands they inhabited.  Yes many of the laws of this country are "moral" and apparently based on the "10 commandments" but that doesn't make us a Godly nation.
• Yes, the Bible does state: 

  if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

  in 1 Chronicles 7:14, lets look at the context.  It was told to Solomon by God during the dedication of the first temple.  It is a good principle to follow, however....
• We are told to pray for our leaders, not on a call out by some more or less anonymous email chain letter but by God, himself.

So where does that leave us... Let's take a look at Romans 1, it basically says that when we choose wickedness, God abandons us to our own desires (all those immoralities listed above and more).  Why?   I believe it is to allow us to hit bottom so we have no choice but to turn to God.

Not convinced?  Newtonian physics says the same thing... The second law of thermodynamics is the law of entropy, stating that things move from order to disorder.  As you read through the Bible, you see this apply to spiritual principles quite often... 

So, how should we then pray?  How should we then live?

Intense...

Last weekend, I went to a Get The Word Out intensive on Worship.  This involved some front end work but most occurred during the day (8:30 - 8:30) on Saturday.

We asked and answered questions like....

• What is Worship?  (it is not just any part or the whole Sunday Morning church service).
• What do you Worship? (The easy answer is whatever you think about most).
• How do I truly worship God?  (Read Romans 12:1-2 for an idea, especially in The Message)

If you think you have a handle on it, do some honest thinking about the middle question above.

Pegging the "Geek Meter"

There is a concept in software that is extending elsewhere called "open source".   While companies like Microsoft usually talk against open source software, companies like Sun have figured out ways to make money by making all their software open source.

What open source means is that while the developer or development group still owns and maintains the software, others are able to look at, fix or enhance the software that was written.  Depending on licensing, those changes may need to go back into the project.

Here is one of the most interesting open source projects I have seen...

According to the press release (just click on the picture), it is a car powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and an electric motor on each wheel.  The lighting is OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) which is driver configurable.  The developers are, however, completely opening the technology to others to help improve the vehicle.

The Kingdom of Heaven vs the Kingdom of God

There are people who believe the Kingdom of Heaven talked about in Matthew and the Kingdom of God talked about in Mark & Luke are different things.

I don't believe that is the case.  To make the point, let's look at Matthew 13:31-33 and Mark 4:30-32

Matthew 13:31-33 reads...

Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.”

Mark 4:30-32 reads:

Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."

Luke 13:18 reads quite similarly to Mark. So why the different phrase?  It is the audience that the different books are written to.  Matthew was writing to a primarily 1st century Jewish audience.  They would have been offended if he referred to God in a too casual way so, in tradition, there was an inference of God by saying Heaven.  Mark and Luke were writing to a primarily non-Jewish audience.  One not offended by the use of God in that context.  I don't know but they may have been confused if "Kingdom of Heaven"were used instead.

The Magic Purse.

I've been reading a story called "The Magic Purse" by Tim Thompson on the Emerging Parents blog.

I may have heard it before but the moral of the story is really good.  You can read all four parts here, here, here and here.

Mold and Mildew

With news stories like this one which starts:

A single mother with 8-year-old triplets says she and her children became ill from black mold after a contractor improperly installed insulation in her condex.

I was surprised to hear this on the Daily Audio Bible this morning...

God spoke to Moses and Aaron: "When you enter the land of Canaan, which I'm giving to you as a possession, and I put a serious fungus in a house in the land of your possession, the householder is to go and tell the priest, 'I have some kind of fungus in my house.' The priest is to order the house vacated until he can come to examine the fungus, so that nothing in the house is declared unclean. When the priest comes and examines the house, if the fungus on the walls of the house has greenish or rusty swelling that appears to go deeper than the surface of the wall, the priest is to walk out the door and shut the house up for seven days. On the seventh day he is to come back and conduct another examination; if the fungus has spread in the walls of the house, he is to order that the stones affected by the fungus be torn out and thrown in a garbage dump outside the city. He is to make sure the entire inside of the house is scraped and the plaster that is removed be taken away to the garbage dump outside the city. Then he is to replace the stones and replaster the house.

If the fungus breaks out again in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house has been scraped and plastered, the priest is to come and conduct an examination; if the fungus has spread, it is a malignant fungus. The house is unclean. The house has to be demolished—its stones, wood, and plaster are to be removed to the garbage dump outside the city. Anyone who enters the house while it is closed up is unclean until evening. Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash his clothes.

But if when the priest comes and conducts his examination, he finds that the fungus has not spread after the house has been replastered, the priest is to declare that the house is clean; the fungus is cured. He then is to purify the house by taking two birds, some cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop. He will slaughter one bird over fresh water in a clay pot. Then he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet thread, and the living bird, dip them in the blood of the killed bird and the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times, cleansing the house with the blood of the bird, the fresh water, the living bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet thread. Last of all, he will let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field. He has made atonement for the house; the house is clean.

While there is a spiritual application there, I find the medical application more interesting.  Some time ago, on the "Extreme Home Makeover", the house was causing a child to become ill because it was filled with mold.  It amazes me that God knew this was a problem and made it part of his law of obedience.

Yesterday went to the dogs...

Yesterday consisted of lifting a flyball box in and out of the lanes and running Bailey.

You can see my friend and team mate Brian on the flyball box in this video.

Bailey is the fourth dog to run.  You can see me in the back trying to get her to move faster.  You can watch other videos that Marj took yesterday here and here.

Context, Context, Context.

I ran across a passage that reinforced "context" in my mind yet again.  Over the past year or so, I have read several books that have mentioned the importance of context in the Bible.  Not just the context of the passage itself but the historical context the writer was writing in.

These books include "How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth", "What Saint Paul Really Said", "The Challenge of Jesus", "The Blue Parakeet" and my latest read, "Velvet Elvis".

To summarize the explanation a little bit,  let's look at a passage that I read this morning.  In 2 Cor 4:5, we can read 

You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Admittedly, that one verse is taken out of it's context in many ways but what I want to show is right there.  I'll encourage you to click the link above and read the chapter before continuing. 

In "Velvet Elvis", Rob Bell stresses that the Bible is written in a particular place, in a particular time, to a particular people.   That is definitely the case here. Let's look at one simple phrase in that verse...  "That Jesus is Lord".  What does that say to you?   Here is what I hear now when I read it...

Paul is living in a time where you are to worship Caesar with a punishment of death if you don't.  Caesar said he is Lord or God (he declared himself to be God or a son of God).  To say or preach that Jesus is Lord means that Caesar is not.  That means that every time Paul speaks, he is marking himself for death.

Now, go back and take a look at passages like Romans 6:23 and Romans 10:9 again.  Read the chapter around the verse and read them in the cultural context I just touched on above.  Or go down through this list with that perspective.

A Flyball Weekend.

This weekend is a flyball weekend in Loveland (and busier).

What is flyball?  Check out this video...

On Saturday, I got to race with Bailey, a dog owned by Carrie.  I got to race Bailey a few times last month.  You can see Carrie helping me start Bailey in the picture below.

The Teenage Song

I saw this one on CrazyChristianClips blog...

It is called "Teenage Song" and is way too true!

This weekend

This weekend is a big one... We are going to RUFF's Presidential Pandemonium Flyball Tournament in Loveland and attending the Heavenfest fundraising banquet Saturday night.

The Stethoscope

My parents sent this video to me today.

It was created by Southern Hills Church of Christ, Abilene, Texas.

Groundhog Day

It's groundhog day and I thought I'd stick my head out of the ground and see if I see my shadow.

Since it is early when I am posting there are no shadows.

Instead, I'll leave you with this cartoon from the blog "The Ongoing Adventures of the ABSO Jesus". For an explaination of what ABSO means, go here.

Wellspring: Get out from under the cloud

Check out what my friend Dave wrote on condemnation in his post called "Get out from under the cloud".

Feeding the Feedburner

I have know about Feedburner for some time.  I just put my blog feed on feedburner however.

I know I have mentioned web syndication (RSS) and feeds before and why but I'll recap.  

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a way for you to watch someone's blog or podcast or the news (really anything with frequent updates) without having to visit the site constantly to see if the put something out for the rest of the world to read.

For the non-geek among us, most blogs like Typepad, Blogger and Wordpress will publish a feed for you.  For the geekier, among us, there are ways of building your own feeds, you just need a place to put the feed file.  One that I use is called "ListGarden"... I like it because it's easy and reliable, runs nearly anywhere and costs $0... A good price.  You can pay $$ and get something like RSSBuddy however.

What do you do with these feeds?  There are several things you can do... One is to ignore it but what fun is that?  If you choose not to ignore it, however, you don't have to look directly at it. After all, the file that is produced is pretty ugly.   

Instead, put it into a feed reader.  There are installed readers and on-line readers.  I like on-line readers because I am not always on the same computer so I don't have to weed through the same information multiple times.  The disadvantage is that if you are reading a feed from a corporate intranet (inside the company), the on-line readers can't get to it and you need an installed reader.  Fortunately, many browsers have the feature built in.

Installed readers include:

• NewsGator (Windows, Microsoft Outlook & Mac)
• Firefox Browser
• Safari Browser
• Internet Explorer 7

On-line Readers include:

• Google Reader
• News Gator
• My Yahoo
• Bloglines
• Pageflakes
• Netvibes

My personal favorites are Google Reader.  It works well in Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox as well as a mobile version for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Now, why Feedburner?  Feedburner has this feature that allows you to subscribe to any of the on-line services with the click of a button.  If you are publishing a podcast, you can also have iTunes automatically subscribe, even if you are not in the iTunes store.  It also keeps statistics for you on where people come from and go to.

You can now subscribe to this blog here, Why you may want to is a different question.

Inauguration day preparation

With the inauguration of our new president coming up on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit this....

No matter who you voted for or what side you are on, you'll never have "A Savior on Capitol Hill".  There is only one Savior for this world.

Looking up from the bottom....

In the Psalm I read to day the writer seems to be looking up from the bottom, all the way up to God.  What I see in these verses, though, is surrender.

Psalm 119:25-32 reads like this in The Message.

I'm feeling terrible—I couldn't feel worse! 
      Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember? 
   When I told my story, you responded; 
      train me well in your deep wisdom. 
   Help me understand these things inside and out 
      so I can ponder your miracle-wonders. 
   My sad life's dilapidated, a falling-down barn; 
      build me up again by your Word. 
   Barricade the road that goes Nowhere; 
      grace me with your clear revelation. 
   I choose the true road to Somewhere, 
      I post your road signs at every curve and corner. 
   I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me; 
      God, don't let me down! 
   I'll run the course you lay out for me 
      if you'll just show me how.

One of my favorites

Both my mom and dad are musicians.  My mom was a music teacher before I was born and my dad played drums. 

There was always music around the house.  One of my favorites was "That's Almost Good" by David Seville (who was also the guy behind Alvin and the Chipmunks).

Although I couldn't find the song on any of the music sites, I did find it on YouTube...  You can listen (and watch the '45 turn) here...

Keeping sinless...

I ran across this forumla for keeping from sinning...

Galatians 5:16:23 (The Message)...

My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

Enough said...

Easy right?  hmm....

Christmas Music

If you are still looking for music for the season but are not looking for quite the traditional performances, check out The Bored Again Christian's episode 73.  They have a rockin' version of several of your favorites.

And what about that "Dreaming of a White Christmas"?  Was that forecasting global warming?

Sacred Echoes...

I recently heard a message given by Margaret Feinberg. Who was speaking about her book "The Sacred Echo" which, it turns out, is it's own sacred echo.

One of the things I have been thinking about in recent months is practicing the presence of God.

  A few weeks later, I ran across the book "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Lawrence in my library.  It is a book I need to pull out and practice.

One of the practices is hearing God's voice.  In the Old Testament, the prophets regularly heard God's voice.  We on the other hand, are expected to be guided by the Holy Spirit (also God's voice maybe).

In Mararet's message, she references 1 Kings 19:8-18 which talks about God's voice not being in the loud earthquake and wind but being the thing you have to strain to hear.

Now, here is the echo.

Less than one week later, we are doing our devotional time prior to worship team practice and Russ uses the same passage, talking about the same thing.

Maybe I need to move "The Practice of the Presence of God" up in my reading stack.

A quick note... Margaret is supposed to be speaking at the end of March...  I may need to find a sub for worship band and go... I have enjoyed listening to her.

Echos of a song...

There are certain songs that echo through my life.

One of those is "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" which was written by Stevie Wonder.

I was first introduced to it my freshman year of college through my roommate's Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow" album (yes, vinyl).  

I ran across it again a few years ago when I heard Dave Beegle's "Beyond the Desert" CD.

I saw the song performed by Jeff Beck and an amazing young bass player named Tal Wilkenfeld last year and ran across that version again on YouTube tonight...  Here it is...

I may have to look up some of her work.

Interesting Weekend

This was an interesting weekend.

First, we may have picked up a new family member. On Friday night, we picked up a dog (around a year old) from Western Border Collie Rescue.  We are "fostering to adopt".  In other words, we have a month to determine if we want to deal with any problems that come with the dog -- different I suppose from the problems we cause.

Marj calls him Keva (they had named him "larry").

On Saturday, we looked out the window after Rocky barked and this is what we saw...  It turned out that Brighton was having it's Christmas parade, our neighbors were playing the parts of Santa & Mrs. Santa.

zOE's on Coverville

In October, Brian, the host of Coverville announced a "Coverville Idol" around the band Squeeze.

zOE's iMAGINARY fRIEND got together for brief studio effort with the result being "If It's Love".

You can download the song for free and, if you are a Squeeze fan, listen to the rest of the songs here.  All the songs are being released as a Squeeze Tribute CD called "Take Them (They're Yours)".

And, by the way, we'd love for you to vote for our song here.

Soles4Souls

Thanks to Rob for pointing this out to me...

Jubilee Years and Restoration

We sang a song by "delirious" this weekend called "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble" this Sunday.  There is a line in the song that paints interesting symbols in my mind.

And here we see that God you're moving
A time of Jubilee is coming

Jubilee is mentioned in Leviticus 25:8-55 and is part of The Law that God gave to Israel.  

There are two special years mentioned in The Law.  The first is the sabbath year which occurs every 7th year.  The other is the year of Jubilee which is to occur every 50th year.

Every 7th year, the people were supposed to:

• forgive all debts
• release all hebrew servants
• read the law at the Feast of Tabernacles

I remember my Dad practiced his own "sabbath year" with the land by rotating crops.  I don't remember if it was exactly a 7 year rotation but it was close.  This allowed the land to renew by planting crops that didn't leach one particular mineral out of the soil and let others replace the nutrients the others need.

Every 50th year, Israel was to:

• let the land lie fallow (not plant crops)
• give back any land purchased from others.
• release all slaves

I don't remember seeing (and I have heard others say this) any record of Jubilee being celebrated in the Old Testament.   Maybe it was and not recorded but you might expect to see it once.

The year of Jubilee was to be a time of restoration.  A time which foreshadowed the coming of Christ and his restoration of the earth.  That is why I liked the lyrics above.

Paying it...

I struggled with a "cute" title for this post and didn't get there.

I am in a vacation situation that I find myself every year.  "Use it or loose it".   If I don't use my vacation, I forfeit the ability to use it... The nice thing is that Qwest encourages you not to "loose it" and, honestly, is pretty generous with their time off (vacation and sick).   

That being said, I am home this week and really only take three days of vacation.  Yesterday, I spent time getting my computer backup in order (I now have the Mac "Time Machine" running against a non-Apple networked drive).  Today, I started off listening to a couple of great messages from William Paul Young, the author of "The Shack".

You see, a couple of weeks ago, my new friend Elizabeth, who rides the bus I ride some mornings, mentioned that she had listened (or at least downloaded) these after she found out that William Young had spoken at Crossroads Church in Denver.

If you don't know, "The Shack" is a book that Young describes as a "parable".  It describes his relationship with his father and the journey back to seeing a loving God.  This is a book that I resisted reading because so many people said it was good.  A friend gave it to me after she gave up on reading it (she didn't like it).  I loved it.  Marj loved it. I understand why all the hype.

This isn't, at least directly, a post about the book, however.  First, I want to invite you to listen to the messages that William Paul Young gave.  You can get them here but I'll let you cheat and get them here and here (the same spot, just direct links).

Second, I am always amazed how God guides you into more and more understanding of him and his ways, often without asking for it.  A question pops up, God will guide you to an answer...  Listening to these messages were one of those times.  Not necessarily for me but it does  address some things I have thought about and that friends have talked to me about. I'll warn you, however, that Young is all over the map on what he talks about.  for me that is a good thing.

Now, new questions, like what's up with 1 Peter 3:18-22? 

Kingdom Coming... Free music.

Shaun Groves released a song called "Kingdom Coming" on election day to, as he puts it...

Kingdom Coming released on election day 2008, as a reminder to me and Christians everywhere that our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20) and it spreads not by sword (John 18:36) but unlike the kingdoms of this world (Isaiah 40:21-24), the kingdom we serve has no borders and no flags and no end.

You can download it here...  You can also listen to Shaun preach a little below...

Kingdom Coming from Shaun Groves on Vimeo.

(special thanks to "KingdomGrace" for bringing this to my attention)

Fuel prices drop and I am disappointed...

No, not at the price of fuel.  I like that.

What disappoints me is how few people actually learned.   I have been a "mass commuter" for several years.  In fact, when possible, I use either mass transit, carpool or rode my bicycle.

Over the last two years, as prices of fuel slowly rose, we saw more and more people riding the bus.   Now, however, the ridership has fallen dramatically.

Busy Weekend.

This weekend we spent with the Phantom Flyers flyball club.  Since Rocky came along but didn't run, Marj and I did things like shagging balls (Joel mostly), keeping statistics (Marj) and judging (line and box judging).  Rocky felt it was his duty to add to the noise level because he felt he should be running.

This evening, Marj & I went to a "Worship and the Word Movement" get together.  We got to have a time of worship and hear how God has been using Dave and Tara. It was also officially announced that "Heavenfest" will be held again this coming year... The work starts all over again.

Typealyed

I ran across a site called "Typealyzer" which analyzes the writing style of your blog.

Here are my results...

You can get more information on my analysis by clicking above.

The end of politics for a while?

I hope this is the end of my political posting for a while but...

First, a coworker (who lives in Phoenix) was at the McCain "party" Tuesday night and happened to be caught during the concession speech by an AP photographer.  He is on photo #8 here.  The disappointment shows on his face.

Now to what really brought on this post.

Cal Thomas wrote an article that appeared in the Modesto Bee titled "Power evangelicals seek isn't in government".   It is worth reading.

A quote from that that I found quite good:

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative evangelical image has failed.

The question now becomes: Should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

I opt for trying something else.

Too many conservative evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture. The futility inherent in such misplaced faith can be demonstrated by asking these activists a simple question: Does the secular left, when it holds power, persuade conservatives to live by their standards? Of course they do not. Why, then, would conservative evangelicals expect people who do not share their worldview and view of God to accept their beliefs when they control government?

Of course he is right about that. He continues

What is the answer, then, for conservative evangelicals who are rightly concerned about the corrosion of culture, the indifference to the value of human life and the living arrangements of same- and opposite-sex couples? The answer depends on the response to another question: Do conservative evangelicals want to feel good, or do they want to adopt a strategy that actually produces results?

I'll let you read his article for his answer.

Credit...

I need to credit the title for the last post to the late Larry Norman.

You can be a righteous prophet get a blessing off it.

The Daily Audio Bible has been wandering though the prophets for the last month or so with nearly 2 more months left.

Listening to them the second time around is much more interesting.  I don't think it is because I know them already.  Honestly, I don't.  I have, however, tried to "get inside their heads" a little better.

The language they use is strange.  It is what we would term "Apolocaptic" in style.  Filled with imagery and hyperbole.   Something I heard recently that made a lot of sense when dealing with this style.

1. You have a lot of hyperbole being used.  Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration when speaking.  We don't do this as well as many other cultures.  I work with a man from India who does this quite well.  The world is falling in when something goes wrong... Even though I know it isn't.    When you hear "The sun will go dark...." or something like that, it isn't a weather report but a statement on their world view.
2. The Bible is full of "types and shadows".  We typically look at those types all pointing to Christ but it is deeper than that and something that as a non-jewish person, I don't do well in the old testament.   Take for instance, the land of Israel.  According to what I heard, the typical jewish person looked at the land as their "garden of eden" where they were given the task to care for and dominate it.  Those who were not jewish were considered some of the animals to dominate.  When an invading country invaded or predicted to invade, they looked at these invaders as monsters overthrowing the poor defenseless people.  This is why you have some of the imagery in Daniel and elsewhere.
3. Prophets were given dramas to play out used to make a point to the people around them. 
   • Hosea, for instance, was to marry a prostitute representing God's commitment to Israel. When she returned to being a prostitute, he was told to wander through the streets looking for her, yelling for her, representing God looking for his people.
   • Ezekiel was told to lie on his side one day for each year that Israel was unfaithful. He was also told to eat food cooked with human dung.
   • Isaiah was told to walk around naked for 3 years to show the shame that Israel would be facing when taken captive.

Needless to say, they are much more interesting this time around.

Music Today and Yesterday

By yesterday I am being both a little metaphorical and literal.

With the never ending (they say continuous) election coverage last night, Kyle being sick so not going to karate and me having an evening free, I put in the G3 Live from Denver (2003) DVD I rented from NetFlix to listen to some screaming guitar work from Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen (left to right).

To say the least, Kyle was impressed.  While watching, I have the computer out looking up all sorts of facts about the artists, etc.   One of my favorite Steve Vai songs is called "For the Love Of God" which is an instrumental.  I don't know the beliefs of God that he holds but a bit of interesting trivia turned up in the wikipedia article about the song they mention that Vai "fasted and meditated for 10 days" to prepare to record the song.

This morning I woke up about an hour early and put on some of the Phil Keaggy I had recently downloaded from eMusic and it rolled into the Derek Trucks I downloaded from there as well.  Talk about different styles.  I happened to be listening to "Out of the Madness" which has lots of different styles.  "Young Funk" impressed me a lot because of the mix of styles in the song itself.

Now, to wrap the last paragraph back around, a song I was introduced to by Phil Keaggy just turned up on my search for "Young Funk".  I saw that "John the Revelator", performed by Gov't Mule which Derek Trucks has some association with.... Small world.

I am still blaming the time change for the early morning. I get my "body clock" set and, despite what the clock says, I have a hard time resetting it. It seems my friend Jeanie doesn't have my problem.

As far as emusic goes, I'd love to have a bigger subscription but I guess I have to be satisfied with the 30 songs/month that I am on now.  It's just that I have 30 cd's saved for download later.  Phil Keaggy, Larry Norman, Malcolm & Alwyn, Asia, etc.

Only one more day

• Only one more day to receive phone calls from people I've never met telling me what my opinion should be.
• One more day of advertisements telling me the worst characteristics of the people they are opposing.
• One more day for this country to make history with either an african-american president or a female vice president.

Kyle's promotion

A quick note...

This week, Kyle received his conditional black belt.  He now has 1 year to get his first degree belt.

Voting the Bible

Yesterday, I got my ballot into the "mail-in" drop off.  It is a good feeling not to need to stand in line for early voting, not to stand in line for regular voting, etc.

A news report yesterday on Channel 4 stated that:

As of early Friday morning, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office reported that nearly 1.3 million registered voters had cast ballots already, either in person or by mail-in. That's 40 percent turnout. 

At this point, I am extremely tired of the advertisements, each either promising their solution will put America into prosperity again or that the other candidates solution will make things worse. 

One race that is particularly vitriolic is the Musgrave/Markey congressional race.  Each has accused the other of illegalities, each denies the allegations of the other.  Musgrave has claimed to be an "evagelical Christian" while Markey was raised Catholic.  From the tenor of this race, I might conclude that they have either abandoned their faith or that they follow a very different Bible than mine.

Then there are the calls from the pro-life groups urging me to vote a particular way.  One was a recording from a priest, the other I remember was from a group called "Vote the Bible".  I looked up their website and was not surprised at what I found.  They seem to believe that there are only two Biblical issues this election (as in ever election for the last 20 years or so).  Abortion and same-sex marriage.  They state:

Vote the Bible seeks to provide information to those who wish to be informed about the official and published positions of those who would see public office.  These positions are obtained from each candidate for election and each party's official published platforms.  We think that Christian voters want to cast their vote in conformity with the Word of God, so we have included scriptures that are applicable to public issues.  Vote the Bible does not endorse any political party or individual candidate.  We do encourage you to cast your vote in this most important election for the candidate of your choice.

I find this to be a rather myopic view of the Bible.  Not that these two issues are not important to God.  It is that there are a lot of other issues which relate to how his followers should live.  I think there is a list around somewhere with about 10 items on it that seemed pretty important at one point... It went something like:

1. 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' 
   
2. 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 
   
3. 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 
   
4. 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 
   
5. 'Honor your father and your mother.' 
   
6. 'You shall not murder.' 
7. 'You shall not commit adultery.'
8. 'You shall not steal.' 
   
9. 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 
   
10. 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Certainly, the issues that the "Vote the Bible" people care about show up on number 6 and 7 (sort of, that is a whole different debate). On the other hand, if we are to "vote the Bible", dare we think about how many of the other ones have been violated by our politicians?  I certainly believe that there are lies (I was going to say untruths but isn't that being a politician as well?) being told by every candidate out there.  They alone can not be the solution and they will not always represent me well.  

Throughout the law as well as the rest of the Bible, God is also concerned about issues of hunger, poverty and justice for those that don't have that option.

If we are going to "Vote the Bible", lets vote ALL the Bible.  Otherwise, let's quit fooling ourselves and only partially bringing God into politics and vote for the choice we feel is best.  Lets also get politics out of the Church and quit letting the politicians pander to and control the Church and have the Church get to the task we were given... building the Kingdom of God rather than the empires of man.

How far?

I was asked this question the other day...

Joel? Do you ever wonder how far off we are from the "Christianity" that Jesus wanted?

My answer was...  Yes, for several years now.  I am also not the only one that has been asking these questions.

The version of being a Christian that I see, even in the "best" churches, at least here in America departs quite a bit from the version I see in Acts.  I am even willing to forgive the cultural and political differences between 2000 years ago and now and still have a lot of questions.

Why should we care? Because, in many respects, theology (our thinking about God) does shift the further out from the source we get.  Even when we have a standard like the Bible, that is true.

An analogy here is a laser level.   If you set up a laser level slightly off, close to the center, you won't see much problem, in fact, it could be less than a nail point of difference.  Move several feet down the line and the standard shows 1".  Move further down and the level shows more difference.

The last reformation happened 4-5 centuries ago although it started earlier than that.  It was a reaction to abuses of power and theology of the Catholic Church.  

I have heard rumblings, however of a new reformation, a neo-reformation.  This being a reaction to the blatant Americanization of Christianity.   Maybe it is time?  

That does, however, raise a lot more questions...

Paul wrote to the Galatians...

6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

 8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

Jesus is my friend

When I first saw this, I found it a little scary.

Now, the more I think about it, in "it's day", this video by "SonSeed" was probably pretty progressive

On her "Crazy Christian Clips" blog, Joanna posted David Crowder doing the same song...

More Reading

I have started a rather challenging book.... In fact, the name is "The Challenge of Jesus" by N. T. Wright.

It is quite good.  The source for the material is a series of lectures given at an InterVarsity conference in 1999.  The purpose of the book is to have you, the reader, realize the historical context that you read in the Bible.

I'll let you know more about it when it is finished.

The next one in the queue, however, has arrived.  I pre-ordered it as I have been reading the authors blog for some time.

The title, "The Blue Parakeet" sound like a mystery novel or something.  I read a bit of the first paragraph in the first chapter and he immediately had me hooked.  Why?  

When I was in High School, I went to a Christian camp in Muscatine, Iowa....

Why did that have me hooked?  I went to that camp, Spring Valley Bible Camp.

I did read a few more pages and it looks good.  Again, I'll let you know more as I finish reading.

Zoe's review on RadioIndy.com's blog

RadioIndy wrote a nice review of the zOE'S iMAGINARY fRIEND cd.  You can read it here.

The Car Report

The part shown here is the cause of the belt coming off on Sunday.  The spring broke, causing the pulley to go out of alignment, pulling the belt off.

No, it wasn't terribly expensive.  Replacing the belt at the same time may save some expense later on...

At least we are a two car family again.  This isn't something I'd normally brag about as I normally take other commuter options but because the little truck has limited room, it's nice to be able to take the family on the road.

Car problems....

Last week, the tires, this week, the accessory drive belt.  It comes with the territory though, the van has over 178,000 miles.

What makes this worth blogging about is the circumstances.

Last week, after church, we got home after Marj made a comment about the front right tire looking low.  I fired up the air-compressor and filled it up, then blew out the sprinkler system (a good decision in hindsight).  The next morning, I was on my way back into the house with the paper before leaving for work and noticed the van sitting with a downhill tilt.  To make a long story short, we found that the last tire we purchased was the wrong size for the rim and ended up damaged -- it was, however, the only tire on the car that size.

Today, I took Rocky to the dog park before church.  On the way home, the car got hard to steer and just as I pulled into the development, started to overheat.  I stepped into the house and on the way back out, noticed the belt hanging on the ground.  I tried to put it back on but I needed some equipment I didn't have access to so we canceled our plans.

Why mention this?  Because we both feel that God took care of us.  We could have been on the road when either incident happened.  We could have been miles away from home.  It could have been a "blow-out" incident.

Yes, it is an inconvenience but close to home, it is manageable and while not cheap, when you are in an emergency, things seem to get expensive really fast.

We dropped the car at the car care center down the street and hope they can get to it tomorrow..

---

I don't think I told about the blow-out incident last year.

On a Saturday last summer, I was headed down I-25 at about 75mph (legal speed in that area).  Ahead of me I see smoke, a car head left, into the crash rail, then bounce across the interstate, stopping on the shoulder.  The only car damaged in the pack that this occurred in was the car with the blown tire.

I pulled over to see if I could help.  The driver gets out of the car, distressed because she is late for work.  The front of the car is crumpled.  I called 911, then stayed on the shoulder with the damaged car with my flashers blinking.

When the Westminster police officer arrived, he stopped to see what happened with me... When I told him, a look of amazement crossed his face.  He dismissed me and I headed off to my destination.

Bass Player Face

Stuff Christians Like #419 mentions "Bass Player Face"... Wonder if I qualify.

A Derek Webb song for the next two months...

From Derek Webb's cd "The Ringing Bell"

A Savior on Capital Hill (you can listen to it here on Last.FM)

I’m so tired of these mortal men

with their hands on their wallets and their hearts full of sin

scared of their enemies, scared of their friends

and always running for re-election

so come to DC if it be thy will

because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill

you can always trust the devil or a politician

to be the devil or a politician

but beyond that friends you’d best beware

‘cause at the Pentagon bar they’re an inseparable pair

and as long as the lobbyists are paying their bills

we’ll never have a savior on Capitol Hill

[Bridge]

all of our problems gonna disappear

when we can whisper right in that President’s ear

he could walk right across the reflection pool

in his combat boots and ten thousand dollar suit

you can render unto Caesar everything that’s his

you can trust in his power to come to your defense

it’s the way of the world, the way of the gun

it’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one

so don’t hold your breath or your vote until

you think you’ve finally found a savior up on Capitol Hill

I made the news....

Well, not me directly but the project I have been working on for the last few years has officially been announced and released.

See this for the official press release.  A short clip from the article reads...

Through the qHome online portal, customers can see who's calling their home phone, listen to voicemail, forward messages, manage their contacts and place a phone call with a click of a mouse. When qHome customers are away from home, they can log into the qHome portal from most computers, remotely view and manage their home phone activity and receive instant message pop-ups of incoming home phone calls with Windows Live Messenger. 

You can see a short demo here.

YouVersion

A few posts ago, I mentioned the YouVersion: iPhone Edition (which also works on the iPod Touch).

As nice as it is, you should bookmark (and register to use) regular YouVersion.  Why?  I'm glad you asked.

YouVersion is a FREE offering from Lifechurch.tv and offers

• A daily reading plan.
• A Bible reader with many different versions in several languages.
• Ways to add comments to the passages you read.
• A way to take and store notes

Their description is

Welcome to YouVersion

A revolutionary online Bible that enables community and collaboration like never before.

Organize - YouVersion empowers you to organize the content that's important to you! Share - Simply share meaningful content with anyone, anytime, anywhere. Community - YouVersion makes it easy to connect and collaborate with others. Contribute - With YouVersion you have the power to share your content with your closest friends, family, or anyone online!

re: Where is our hope?

This was posted on Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed blog:

Somewhere between 6pm and 8pm, Central Time, on November 4th, 2008, the eschatology of American evangelicals will become clear. If John McCain wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical has an eschatology of politics. Or, alternatively, if Barack Obama wins and the evangelical becomes delirious or confident that the Golden Days are about to arrive, that evangelical too has an eschatology of politics. Or, we could turn each around, if a more Democrat oriented evangelical becomes depressed and hopeless because McCain wins, or if a Republican oriented evangelical becomes depressed or hopeless because Obama wins, those evangelicals are caught in an empire-shaped eschatology of politics.

Where is our hope? To be sure, I hope our country solves its international conflicts and I hope we resolve poverty and dissolve our educational problems and racism. But where does my hope turn when I think of war or poverty or education or racism? Does it focus on November 4? Does it gain its energy from thinking that if we get the right candidate elected our problems will be dissolved? If so, I submit that our eschatology has become empire-shaped, Constantinian, and political. And it doesn’t matter to me if it is a right-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Republican wins, or a left-wing evangelical wringing her fingers in hope that a Democrat wins. Each has a misguided eschatology.

You can read the whole post here.

The question is... Where is our hope?

Fasting

This month is Ramadan, a time when believers in Islam are fasting all day. This has caused some controversy in the NFL where several players are fasting.

As a Christ-follower, I have heard several different ways fasts are to be done as well as several different purposes.

The other day, however, I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible (I still recommend this by the way) and heard Isaiah 58 and God's perspective on Israel's practices of fasting.  From "The Message":

1-3 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what's wrong with their lives, 
   face my family Jacob with their sins!
They're busy, busy, busy at worship, 
   and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people— 
   law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?' 
   and love having me on their side.
But they also complain, 
   'Why do we fast and you don't look our way? 
   Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?' 

 3-5"Well, here's why:

   "The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit. 
   You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. 
   You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do 
   won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after: 
   a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face 
   and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting, 
   a fast day that I, God, would like?

 6-9"This is the kind of fast day I'm after: 
   to break the chains of injustice, 
   get rid of exploitation in the workplace, 
   free the oppressed, 
   cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is: 
   sharing your food with the hungry, 
   inviting the homeless poor into your homes, 
   putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, 
   being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on, 
   and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way. 
   The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer. 
   You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'

I don't know if this is the only answer to what a fast is to be like. I don't think so.  I do believe that the purpose of fasting is to "get something" from God for yourself, although, that may be a result.