About Books

I just ordered a copy of Jesus Manifesto. You can read a good review/commentary of the book here.

Marj just bought 2 copies of Alter, a book my friend Dave wrote.

Once I get time to read one or the other, I'll review them here.

What's A Blog?

AOL (America on line) posted this video where they asked people in Times Square....

I wonder how many of their statements define me.

Watch more AOL News videos on AOL Video

Sheep & Shepherds

John 10:14-18 struck me as I heard it yesterday. This is from The Message version

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”

Do we truly know Jesus' voice? Do we really know how to listen to Jesus' voice?

An elephant in the church?

Dallas Willard was interviewed in Conversations Journal in an article called Getting the Elephant out of the Sanctuary.

In this interview, he discusses transformation and views of the atonement.

God's Love

Since the week after Easter, Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN has been teaching a series on God's Scandalous Love, a series I am really enjoying.

So far...

• Love Is... - It is impossible to fully grasp God's love because it is infinite! The best we can do is humbly recognize our limitations in this way and give ourselves over to the overwhelming love that God extends to us. Focus Scripture – 1 John 4:8
• God Is Love - The love of God expressed in Christ on the cross was “foolishness to the Gentiles” and “a stumbling block to the Jews”. God’s love is scandalous to us all in different ways. Focus Scripture – 1 John 4:8
• Covenantal Love - The love of God expressed in Christ on the cross shows the radical lengths God is willing to go to restore us. This healing of our relationship with God takes the form of a covenant, not a contract. Focus Scripture – 2 Corinthians 4:4
• Victorious Love - God’s love is victorious! But perhaps not in the way that you’d expect. We often associate victory with our ability to control or defeat others but God’s victory encourages our freedom rather than squelches it. (We love discovering art that connects us to God in unique ways. Focus Scripture – 1 Corinthians 1:18,23-24

The take away point from "Victorious Love" is that if your view of God is not scandalous (see 1 Cor 1:18, 23-24), you have the wrong view of God.

Jesus on the Main Line

This was posted on the CoverMe blog (Songs done by someone other than the original performer). Check out the bass singer at the end!

This is Ry Cooder performing the song...

Reading Paul

Some time ago, I subscribed to Paul Young's blog. Paul is the author of "The Shack". It had been quite since 2007 (you think I go a long time between posts?). Suddenly, early this month, he announced 30 days of blogs which he will write on the road. While he recounts his journeys over the last month, it is interesting to watch how God works through him and how the book he wrote has worked through others.

Good news came in the mail today!

I got a letter today from a company that wants to make a plaque for me. Why? Because I was awarded Patent Number 7697503 for a Dynamic Speed Dial List. Of course, Qwest actually owns the patent but I am the inventor.

In short, Qwest would provide a service that would track the phone calls placed or received at your home, organizing them into a web accessible speed dial list that could be used easily from your computer...

If you look, the Patent was actually submitted a little over 4 years ago and was rejected once. Fortunately for me, Qwest chose to pursue the application further.

And no, I don't think I want to spend the money on the plaque...

Degrees of Separation

Exodus 20:18-19

When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

Deuteronomy 5:23-27

“The Lord spoke these words to all of you assembled there at the foot of the mountain. He spoke with a loud voice from the heart of the fire, surrounded by clouds and deep darkness. This was all he said at that time, and he wrote his words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

“But when you heard the voice from the heart of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me. They said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the heart of the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak to us humans, and yet we live! But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire. Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive? Go yourself and listen to what the Lord our God says. Then come and tell us everything he tells you, and we will listen and obey.’

Deuteronomy 18:15:17

Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’

Each of these passages describe the people of Israel discovering that God can speak and fellowship with humans. Out of fear, they ask Moses to intercede for them, one "degree of separation". They asked for rules rather than relationship.

Even though we have a new intercessor (Romans 8:26-27), I wonder if we don't often choose a human intercessor rather than relationship (spiritual leaders of all sort). Have we chosen to follow some man-made set of rules rather than to foster a relationship with the triune God.

Tim Hawkins

Tim Hawkins was on the Drew Marshall Show last weekend so I thought I'd share some of the songs I enjoyed...

Good Friday Thoughts

I appreciated Baxter Kruger's thoughts on Good Friday. He writes:

I just read an essay on Jesus “absorbing the wrath of God” on the cross. It almost made me throw up. With such ease and passion and not a little patronizing the writer split Jesus’ Father into two different persons, and then ripped the Father-Son relationship apart, apparently without even knowing it, or caring. What madness. I suppose the Holy Spirit just stood there dazed wondering whose side he was supposed to join. There is something sinister about the need to have the Father vent his rage upon his own Son. And even more so when one then tries to call such an act “glorious grace.” But punishment is not forgiveness, and murder is not grace, and Jesus did not suffer the wrath of his Father, and the Holy Spirit was not torn between two lovers.

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” (MT 20:18-19)

It was the human race—not the Father—who condemned his Son. We cursed him. We poured our scorn, our wrath, our rage upon Jesus. We murdered him. And Jesus deliberately submitted himself to us and to our bizarre wrongheadedness. He bore our wrath. He suffered our enmity and died in the arms of our scorn. And he was not alone. His Father and the Holy Spirit were with him. And that is just the point. In the murder of Jesus the life of the Father, Son and Spirit found its way into our greatest sin—and overcame it. The cross is not about Jesus being forsaken by his Father; it is about the Father’s Son incarnate and the One anointed in the Holy Spirit submitting himself to the darkness of the human race, and thereby establishing a relationship with us as gross sinners. In the genius of the blessed Trinity our rejection and murder of Jesus were turned into the ultimate act of acceptance and embrace. In the murder of Jesus the blessed Trinity was “absorbing the wrath of the human race,” thereby forming oneness with us in our sin, and including us in Jesus’ relationship with his Father in the Holy Spirit. That is glorious grace, and forgiveness, and atonement, and real reconciliation, and love, and holiness, and right relationship, and mercy, and judgment.

Thank you Father, Son and Spirit for loving us beyond our wildest dreams.

To Busy Disorder?

Think you have Too Busy Disorder? Visit toobusydisorder.com

The Irony of our youth

It strikes me that it is ironic that a generation that doesn't seem to want to read would use Facebook and texting as a major form of communication.

Repost: Liberated from Legalism

Scot McKnight has been blogging about "Liberated from Legalism", you can read the series here.

In this series, Scot is exploring 'how Galatians helps us see that we are liberated from "legalism."'

Here is a summary of the posts:

1. What is Legalism? Post 1 & 2
2. How does it affect our relationships? Post 2
3. What is Freedom? Post 3
4. What has Christ done for us? Post 4, 5 & 6

I liked the way the last post defined legalism:

Legalism is any practice or belief that is added to the gospel that compromises the sufficiency of Christ as Savior and jeopardizes the adequacy of the Spirit in moral guidance.

Legalism then is the charge against you or me, often sensed at the deepest level, that we are not accepted by God in Christ and indwellt by the Holy Spirit.

The question we should be asking ourselves, then, is "What sorts of legalism do I practice? Where do I add to the gospel of Christ?".

Put down the duckie

Here is a great object lesson...

Twitter

I am not a huge twitter user but do have an account and several people who think it is worth following me on twitter. I do, however, follow a couple of people who are quite active. Yesterday a name came though on his feed that surprised me... Darlene Zschech

While I do not know her personally, I know of her reputation and her work as a worship leader and song writer.

If you want to follow her on twitter, her feed is at the bottom of the page linked above.

No Love?

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

This is the start of one of the more popular chapters in our Bible. Although it is often read at weddings, the chapter is really more about the love God has for us and we are to have for others. All too often, I have sped through these verses to get to "the good stuff".

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. 1 John 4:7-8 (The Message)

Love for others is really the measure of our faith and our knowledge of God.

How does this all tie together? All too often, those who claim to be followers of Christ (Christians), appear too unloving. Like many of those around us, we often assume "the end" -- many times we have our favorite cause which we somehow attribute to God's cause -- "justifies the means". Instead we come across as spiritual bullies... As unloving.

As first passage I quoted points out, it doesn't really matter how you talk, how much faith you have or even what you do, if you do not exhibit love, the people who really need to hear are going to hear you as more of an annoyance.

Ultimately, I am bankrupt without love for those around me.

Kyle is officially a TaeKwonDo Black Belt

After lots of years of preparation, Kyle has officially earned his black belt. He was unanimously approved by the other black belts in the school. This is a picture of him with his teacher in his new school uniform and belt (complete with embroidered name) ...

Yes, I am a proud father.

So Beautiful

As I mentioned here, I've been listening to Leonard Sweet's book "So Beautiful". This book is really resonating with me. In it he talks about the DNA of the Church (not a particular church). He uses the term MRI which stands for Missional, Relational and Incarnational. This has been an interesting book. There is a promotional video below.

So Beautiful, by Leonard Sweet from David C. Cook on Vimeo.

Kyle at Black Belt University

Kyle had a big weekend this weekend... His Black Belt University. Last year, most of his friends (you can see quite a few in the background) were promoted to black belt but Kyle didn't make it. We haven't heard yet about this year but have hopes that he will have earned it this year.

We heard a lot of good reports from those that were there more of the time we were. Like the kick to the chest he took from Quanginim and popped back up to continue sparing or his board breaking on the first night.

The following video... This shows Kyle with a 1 inch concrete brick (the kind you get at the garden center for lawn & garden landscaping).

Markers

Since the 70's (that would be the 1970's), there has been a lot of concern about "The Mark of the Beast". Is that a chip implanted? Is it a number (666)? Is it this or that? Many people speculating and using this as a cautionary object.

Today, listening to the Daily Audio Bible, I heard about another mark. Exodus 13:14-16 reads:

14 “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. 15 Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the Lord killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’ 16 This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the Lord’s mighty hand brought us out of Egypt.”

as well as Deut 6:8-9 which reads

8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Both these passages refer to the Israelites exodus from Egypt when, (reader digest version) the last plague kills the first born of all the Egyptian livestock and children. The nation of Israel was spared the plague by following the commands that became The Passover.

Compare that now to Revelation 13 which reads

16 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. 18 Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

From what I understand, the experts tell us that Revelation is written in an apocalyptic style of writing. John's writing here is supposed to do several things:

1. For those that are familiar with the books of the law (with Jewish boys of that time, this would have been an understatement -- The Law was their schooling), it is to bring to mind the passages dealing with worshiping God, either through the passover or through the process or knowing the scriptures.
2. Warn us who the Beast is based upon the number he gives us. There is a lot of speculation but my understanding is one interpretation is this is referring to Nero Caesar.

Ultimately, here is the deal. We don't have to worry about the "mark of the beast" if we have "The Mark of the Christ" instead.

Here is what I would suggest are the marks of Christ. Galatians 5:22-23 reads:

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Clearly we went round and round. ***

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Bill called to tell me about the headlight cover kit he used on his wife"s car. I needed one of these because when we drive in all the chemicals used to keep the ice down on the roads, it gets onto the plastic headlight covers some cars have causing them to cloud up, reducing the amount of light being produced.

On Bill"s recommendation, I put it to the test today... My drill and their kit... sanding (6 disks - 500 grit), more sanding (4 disks - 800 grit), more sanding (1 disk - 3000 grit) and polishing (goo)...

What a difference it made. To totally misuse a quote, Let there be light! or to quote a song "I can see clearly..."

*** I wrote this post last night on my iPod and totally messed it up... I took the basics and started over so no, you are not seeing double.

So Beautiful on disciples

I've been listening to Leonard Sweet's book "So Beautiful" as I can on the bus. In chapter 19, he writes:

Honest disciples gulp rather than gargle at the fountain of knowledge. Life is filled with difficult questions. If disciples are not as wise as Solomon, they are at least honest about not having all the answers.

As Moses found out on the peaks of Mt. Sinai, the closer he journeyed to God the more he was enveloped in mist and unknowing. As Aaron found out at the foot of Mt. Sinai, the farther people journeyed from God the more they became certain of what God looks like and cast the golden calf
Pilgrim people are a learning people, disciple means learner…

Between this quote and the ones I posted here. I am becoming cautious about someone who does seem to "know it all" and am becoming more receptive to those who have a calm uncertainty.

Perichoresis

I have a couple of blog/email friends who have helped to introduce me to the term Perichoresis. Theopedia defines it as:

Perichoresis is a Greek term used to describe the triune relationship between each person of the Godhead. It can be defined as co-indwelling, co-inhering, and mutual interpenetration. Alister McGrath writes that it "allows the individuality of the persons to be maintained, while insisting that each person shares in the life of the other two. An image often used to express this idea is that of a 'community of being,' in which each person, while maintaining its distinctive identity, penetrates the others and is penetrated by them."

I have also heard Perichoresis as the intricate dance of the Trinity. Dr. Baxter Kruger has a website called "The Parable of the Dancing God" with a link to a book of the same name.

Let me share an image that can be used to describe the concept.

The Book of Eli

Last weekend, Marj & I went to see "Book of Eli", yesterday, I took Kyle.

I loved this movie but before you go, you need to know a little bit. It is "post-apocalyptic" so is a very grim movie. It is also quite violent. Keeping with the violence is language that you may find offensive.

That said, let me outline the movie. The world as you and I know it was destroyed 30 years ago. Resources are scarce, especially water. Most people in this world can not read as it has been too many years. The main character Eli is on his way "west".

The movie has a message that many of us should hear. Religion is power over people. As you and I both know, however, God does not like religion and the movie has a spiritual twist in it that supports this.

Ambient Lighting

How much ambient lighting is nearby?

I grew up in the country where, except for the city lights nearly 2 miles away, there was no significant light?

We found out, however, on Thursday morning when we overslept. The alarm didn't go off, the power did. I didn't realized it until I went to the bathroom and hit the light switch and nothing happened. I am so conditioned that I tried it again, thinking it was just my light bulb. The next thought was the circuit breaker but looking outside, I quickly learned every house nearby was dark with only the street lights on the state highway near our house actually on.

It was dark. I ran downstairs, grabbed a flashlight and showered by flashlight. Marj jumped into the shower after I did so I went downstairs and lit a few candles to eat by. I popped the emergency garage door latch and got the cars out, then was worried that it wouldn't lock and had to read the manual (by flashlight).

We walked the dogs by flashlight as well. That was when it struck me how much ambient light I have become adjusted to. When we returned we were surprised to see Kyle up. He woke up because it was "pitch dark".

We got our power back just before I headed off to work but one of the neighboring developments had to wait for another hour.

Just before I left for work,

Two Interesting quotes.

I was listening to The God Journey and heard a couple of interesting quotes.

First is from Fr. Richard Rohr, a Catholic theologian, he said:

Ignorance does not result from what we don’t know! Ignorance results from what we think we do know—but don’t! Most ignorant people are, in fact, quite certain. “Holy innocents” just don’t know. And what is so wrong about that?

The second is from Randall Arthur:

Spiritual Maturity is moving from confident arrogance to thoughtful uncertainty.

I have seen a lot of people who are quite certain of what they know or believe. I have found, as I wander down the road of life that the air of certainty starts to make me nervous.

What is your feel when you read these?

Sodom

The other day, I was listening to the Daily Audio Bible and the events around Lot, Sodom and Gamorrah in Genesis 19. While listening a couple of things struck me.

Classically, this passage has been used as a condemnation of homosexuality. I would argue that should not be the case (I don't believe homosexuality is something God likes either but that is different scripture).

The situation here (there is a similar situation in Judges) is not about 2 men having sex. It is about rape. Rape is not the same as sex. Rape is a form of violence, typically a way of showing who is in power and who is not. It is done out of anger and a desire to humiliate the victims and sometimes lust but not out of love.

Let's look at the passage starting in verse 4:

Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."

Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

"Get out of our way," they replied. "This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

Why is this an issue? Later in Ezeikel 16 (49-50), the sin of Sodom is mentioned again.

" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen...' "

Their sin was more than just the desire to rape. Why is this important? Because we need to look at things in context (this may not have been a context that was understood a few centuries ago in the same way however).

Rape does not equal sex. That doesn't matter if you are looking at a situation like this one or David & Bathsheba (I believe that the initial encounter was rape as well).

More Jacob Moon

Marj played Jacob Moon for the filler in church today (she ran sound). I did hear one criticism for this song... His version of Rush's "Subdivisions". I don't think most people noticed.

Jacob Moon

I've been listening to the Drew Marshall show via podcast for a couple of months now, every since I heard some of the interesting guests he has had on.

This last week, he had Jacob Moon on. I really enjoyed his music so searched for him on both iTunes and emusic, my sources for music and found a selection of his work both places. I picked up "The Loop" because of the comments about him using a loop machine to provide his own accompaniment during performances. This is the same device that Phil Keaggy uses so proficiently.

I am really enjoying his music.

The Mis-Understood God

I've been reading an interesting book called "The Misunderstood God: The Lies Religion Tells About God" by Darin Hufford. His premise is that if God is Love (1 John 4:7-8) what does that mean.

As a result he looked at "The Love Chapter", 1 Cor 13 and asked if this is the definition of love what do we believe about God concerning each of these things.

Just as a refresher, 1 Cor 13:4-7 says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

This has caused me to examine what I have believed about some things. One review I read on Amazon suggested that this will be a book mis-quoted by others who haven't read it... His advise, and mine as well, is to pick it up for yourself and read it.

The $2500 TV

We still do not have an HDTV (digital TV) and are not in a major hurry to get one. Here is an observation, however, as I watch the prices.

Years ago, you could always assume that the computer you really wanted would cost about $2000. It didn't seem to matter what the cost of the low end or the high end computer was, the one you really wanted would cost about $2000. This took into account the compromises in latest gadgets, etc.

I've noticed that in the last 2 years or so, the HDTV I would want always seems to cost about $2500. Originally it was because HD was so new, then it was because of the size, then the technology. Why this time? It's the LEDs.

Samsung has a back-lit LED HDTV which has better blacks, sharper color, faster refresh rates, etc. Tie this together with great technology and... $2500

Next, I suspect, will be OLED (Organic LED) rather than LCD. Or maybe laser...

I think I'll keep my old set until it breaks.

Listen for the new year

I am starting my third or fourth year listening to the Daily Audio Bible. It's not too late to start yourself!

If you are unfamiliar with the Daily Audio Bible, you can use it from the computer or from an mp3 player like an iPod or Zune. Every day you will get a new section of the Bible read to you. Every week, they switch translations.

If you have kids, they have a reading for kids which is just New Testament, if you want to listen in another language, last year they started reading in hindi and spanish. This year they added Japanese.

One reason I like listening is that listening makes it harder to skip past those "boring" parts or the parts you think you remember.

Also, the culture the Bible comes from was largely storytelling so it really makes the Bible come alive in many ways.

The Christmas Snow

On Saturday, the day after Christmas, I was taking Kyle to a friends house. I thought this scene of the mountains looked interesting. I asked Kyle to snap this photo as we were heading down the road.

Our Christmas Greetings.

I haven't made this before but here we go...

We have tried to reduce our paper foot print in past years by publishing our Christmas greetings electronically. You can read our family's Christmas letter here.

Coverville Countdown again

I remember listening to the Coverville Countdown a few years ago while shoveling snow from the weekly snow falls we had a few years back.

Every year, Brian who does the Coverville podcast takes nominations for the best cover songs of the year. This year, was no different. He has released his first show (number 40-31) of this years songs. They include:

• Crimson & Clover
• Barracuda
• Voodoo Child
• Boyz-N-The-Hood
• Rusty Cage
• While my Keytar Gently Weeps
• Comfortably Numb
• Such Great Heights
• You're So Vain
• Bizzare Love Triangle

Go out and take a listen!

I still need to go shovel from our latest snowfall. We will be having a white Christmas this year.

Quotes of the day

On my Google front page (personalized), I have the "quote of the day". Much of the time, it is just noise and doesn't get looked at. The last couple of days however, I have enjoyed these. Yesterday it was:

Fig Newton: The force required to accelerate a fig 39.37 inches per sec.
- J. Hart

I know that was a little geeky. Today's is

I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
- James Thurber

It is so easy to forget that others don't just tick but do all the other things like chiming, etc. It is all part of the human process of forgetting the magnificence of our creator.

Scot McKnight at Mars Hill

Scot McKnight, professor at North Park college in Chicago and author of The Jesus Creed and The Blue Parakeet, gave last Sunday's (Dec 13, 2009) message on the Lords Prayer at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. If you are interested, you can listen here (available for a limited time) or here (available for a longer time).

He believes that in the Lords Prayer, Jesus took the Shema (Deut 6:7) and added to it to transform that prayer into something more, the Jesus Creed.

** He has some reflections on his time here.

Logan found a "forever home"!!!

We stopped by with Logan to visit a family in Erie, CO today. They had filled out the paper work, went through the background checks and the home visit.

They met Logan and, not surprisingly, fell in love with him. It was a little sad to leave him but he will get all the human attention he wants there with no competition from other dogs. He will also get to children to play with and grow up with.

The fruit of repentance

I recently enjoyed listening to a sermon from Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul given by Jin Kim, pastor of the "Church of All Nations" in Minneapolis. It was challenging and fun to listen to.

Church of All Nations is a Presbyterian congregation but he calls them "penitently Presbyterian". At one point, he tells about the Presbyterians being "sprinklers" but he does a yearly immersion baptism and how those being baptized a bit afraid of how long they are "kept under".

The message was quite challenging and dealt with believers all being priests, how we should all be reaching out. He also challenged the listeners to look for the fruits of those in leadership.

Another Great Love Story

When we think about romance stories, we often think about "Romeo & Juliet" and some would think of "Pretty Woman".

When reading "From Eternity To Here", Frank Viola states that all romance stories pale in comparison to Christ's love for his church.

So, looking at romance stories in the Bible, we often think of the Song of Solomon. We may also think of Ruth or Esther. Rarely, however, would we think of Hosea.

Let me set it up a bit. Hosea was a prophet that lived around 700 BC. Isreal was lead by kings who didn't regard God very highly and lead the people into idol worship. In fact, Israel (the split state) was always lead by "evil" kings. Judah was occasionally lead by kings who followed God but at this time, they also didn't regard God highly and also lead the people into idol worship.

Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute named Gomer. They had several children, each one with a name that spelled out how God felt about Israel at that time.

I remember Brian at the Daily Audio Bible talking about how the prophets (like Hosea) were used by God. He said that the prophets were given little plays to act out to illustrate God's message for the people.

Here is what happens in Hosea's "play". Gomer goes back to prostitution and Hosea wanders the streets calling her name. He finally gives up. Then God tells Hosea to buy Gomer back from the slave market where she is being sold.

While I am listening to Hosea yesterday, I couldn't help but think of the story of the Prodigal Son. I've heard several other perspectives on that story lately. The one that sticks out the most is that while the son is the emphasis of most of common thinking. This is really more the story of the faithful father.

The reason I kept thinking of this story while listening to Hosea is that Jesus is the faithful lover, just as God was the faithful father in the Prodigal Son story. He courted Israel since the time of Abraham. When he died and rose, he bought us back (i. e. - ransom, see Hosea buying Gomer back) to be his bride.

There is a poem that Paul quotes in 2 Tim 2 which I am also reminded of as I go through Hosea. It reads

Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;

if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;

if we are faithless,
he will remain faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.

Logan's Big Day

No, not that day.

Yesterday we took Logan to the flyball tournament to sit at the Western Border Collie Rescue table.

Logan met several families who may be interested in taking him. We also got to talk to the people who picked him up in Grand Junction the day before Thanksgiving.

There was no end of activity so on the way home, Logan was out like a light

You can now see Logan's biography on the Western Border Collie Rescue website.

The Foster

A few months ago, I wrote about Western Border Collie Rescue. Last Wednesday, we had a new dog come into our lives for a little while.

Kyle named him Logan. We found out he is 2 years old and was abandoned by his owners who were behind on rent and left town. Wednesday, he was in a car from Mesa County (Grand Junction, CO) to Denver where we picked him up to foster.

He is good with kids, cats and other dogs. Loves balls and cloth frisbees and any sort of attention.

He will be up for adoption as soon as his vaccines are current.

CoverFreak: American Pie

Some time ago, I subscribed to the CoverFreak blog.

In today's Thanksgiving post, one of the tunes was different enough to prompt me to blog.

If you remember Don McLean's "American Pie", the version from Just Luis is Don McLean meets Techno.

Homecoming Sock Hop

Last night was Cornerstone's (Kyle's School) homecoming sock (or is it soc?) hop. The theme was "50's" of course.

The hosts had fixed up their barn in a 50's diner theme (well done) with grilling of burgers and dogs.

Marj took Kyle to the Salvation Army store to find a leather coat ($15). Here is a picture of him.

Drops like Stars

Last night, I took the family to see Rob Bell speak in his Drops Like Stars book tour. Rob has an interesting way of looking at the world around us and draws on both the Bible and the experiences he and his friends have to describe how Creativity and Suffering feed each other.

While I think much (if not all?) of the audience were believers to some extent or another, the Gospel was preached.

A friend who, over the last 18 months, has gone through a few trials, joined us. I saw what was talked about speak directly to her.

At one point, Rob asked those who had been touched directly (themselves or a family member) by cancer to stand. This brought what seemed to be over half the auditorium to its feet. The point behind this is that the suffering eliminates the extra, leaving those affected looking at what is important. He suggested that someone given 6 months to live doesn't usually go "I guess I better go trim the hedges". Rather, they repair relationships and live life as fully as they can.

This will be an interesting book to read.

The bad, the good and the odd

We've had a set of Infinity RS225 bookshelf speakers for 10-15 years. This weekend, however, something happened and I heard a big pop. I didn't think much about it until we were showing August Rush to Kyle and kept hearing a crackling in one of the rear speakers.

I disconnected it long enough to pull it down and get the model number.

Thinking it was a lost cause, I decided to find out if I could get replacement parts. I went to the Infinity site and finally got into their support website (you get no support without the model number) and filled out an email form asking about the part.

Yesterday, I got a nice email from "Sharon" giving me the part number and a phone number to call to order the part. The $50 part is on the way which saves me at least $25 (to replace the speaker) or $100 because I'd need a matched set.

Let's see... That was the bad and the good... Now for the odd.

Infinity was purchased by Harman International (I knew this because it was on their site). While I was on hold, I was listening to a boomy bass voice saying "Thank you for calling JBL" (JBL was always known for their big bass). I finally discovered that JBL was also purchased by Harman International. One big happy family.

Pastor Appreciation Month

I just found out that October is "Pastor Appreciation Month". We are supposed to show our pastors how much we appreciate what they do for us.

I do appreciate my pastors, both past and present.

I do, however, have a squishy feeling about this. Why? Because it is being used as another marketing ploy by the book sellers to get you and me to buy books. Our business' can't leave well enough alone and spoil everything just to make more.

(climbing off the soapbox...)

Lake Tahoe

On September 11-13, Marj, Kyle and I flew to Sacramento, CA and drove to Tahoe, CA for my nephew David Wozniak's Wedding. I woke up on Saturday, the day of the wedding, and convinced Kyle that we should drive around the lake. This slide show is what we thought was memorable...

To the pain*

It's a rather fuzzy photo... The black on the finger is not dirt but bruising.

You see, A couple of weeks ago, the battery in Marj's car died so I took her to church early (she was helping with lighting), then stopped for a battery on the way home.

I got home and started to put in the battery before Kyle and I had to take off. I went to pull the trouble light off the shelf and started pulling another bulb along with it. Reflexes took over and I went to catch the bulb... In the process, I slammed my finger into the air compressor. OOOUUUCHHH!!!

Kyle and I changed the battery. Sometime around the middle of church, I realized it was getting quite swollen and, after church, got a glass of ice to soak it in.

The good news, it wasn't broken... The bad news... It was black, blue and green for about 4 days.

* "To the pain" was a line from "The Princess Bride".

Portwiture - What I look like in Twitter

I've had a twitter account for a few months now but am not a big user. I am interested how people interact with it, however.

A new website (in beta now) called Portwiture looks at your twitter feed and shows what you "look like" in twitter by going to flickr and finding photos that fit what it believes reflect what you are tweeting...

You can see what I "look like" by going here.

If you'd like to read my twitter feed, you can go here.

Peppino D'Agostino

We went to my nephew's wedding in Lake Tahoe this weekend. The wedding was on the beach (beautiful setting). The guy who did music is Peppino D'Agostino. He reminds me of Craig Chaquico (his manager thought the influence may have been the other way around).

His website is here... You can watch a video below

Book Review:"The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views"

I just finished reading "The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views". Not a book for light reading"Also, in spite of the attempt to be inclusive of as many general views as possible, it only described four specific views. They are:

Christus Victor: The Christus Victor is likely the oldest view of atonement, declaring Christ the victor over sin, death, etc. It encompasses other views such as Penal Substutionary Atonement and Healing Atonement as well. There are a couple of things I liked about the defense of this view. First is that it is one of the oldest views. There is a great deal to be said about looking at the traditions of the church fathers, especially when that tradition goes back to the first few centuries. Also, the fact that this also includes so many other views within the framework of belief.

Kaleidoscopic View: Similar to the Christus Victor view, it also includes other viewpoints within the framework of the view of atonement. What it does do, however, is to drop any particular view as the primary way of how things work. This is also attractive because as you read through the Bible, in both Testaments, there are differences in how atonement is described.

Penal Substitutionary View: The Penal Substitionary view is the viewpoint which seems most often taught within what is considered "evangelical" churches today. While the Bible does use the imagery of Christ paying the penalty for our sins, that is one of several different images used throughout the Bible. Things that struck me about this as I read through the book. The contributor for this viewpoint was absolutely sure his belief was the "primary" way God worked in the world and made this clear in rebuttals to nearly every other viewpoint. Some of the things mentioned about God seeking "Justice" to satisfy his "wrath" prompted word studies around those words.

This is probably my least favorite view because, at least the way this is taught today, does not paint God in a very kind and loving light and can be quite manipulative.

Healing View: This viewpoint is a lot harder to pin down and is one of what sounds like several in a larger category. Basically, it takes the scriptures that talks about Christ being our healer and extends that out into a view of sin as a disease and Christ's death as the anti-body for that disease. This is also an attractive view for me as it does paint God in a loving (not angry) light.

---

One thing I have been coming to the conclusion about with many of these issues such as calvinism, atonement, etc is that there is not necessarily one absolute way God works and, to believe and act as if there is does at least three things...

• It limits your fellowship with other believers who do not hold those views because you start believing yourself "better" than them.
• It causes you to look at scripture in frameworks that are not necessarily intended by God. As you see through the debate in this book, atonement can be looked at one way by one writer and differently elsewhere, even by the same writer. This is especially true when you look at Paul's writings.
• It causes you to put God into a box of your creation. Remember, God is God (and I am not). God's ways are not our ways.

In his defense of the kaleidoscopic view of atonement, Joel Green mentions that each of these views spoke to people within their time. Is it time to adopt a different viewpoint as our "primary" or, to follow his lead and teach that no particular view is primary.

Western Border Collie Rescue

If you remember Keva, the newest family menber...

I would like to show you some of the work that the organization that we adopted him out of has been doing.

Ada Oklahoma. In June 2009, 120 dogs were left abandoned on a country farm outside Ada Oklahoma. Rescue agencies from around the country removed the dogs from the property. Six of those dogs came to Western Border Collie Rescue. This is a short look at their story.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Soldier Hollow Sheep Dog Competition

CD Review

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I received the "Whole Lotta Blues - The Songs of Led Zeppelin" CD from Marj for my birthday. If you are expecting to hear the sounds of Led Zeppelin, you would be disappointed. If you like the songs but enjoy delta style blues, you'd be as happy as I was with the CD.

Led Zeppelin picked up a lot of it's stylings from the American blues masters. These guys are the new masters and make songs like "Rock and Roll", "Custard Pie" and "Good Times, Bad Times" hum in a much different way from the originals.

Job in a box...

I just finished listening to the book of Job (that's not the thing I get paid doing but the book in the Bible).

Something I realized as I was listening was that we need to be careful as we look at the book for applications in our life. The first 37 chapters are...

• The setup for the story
• Job and his "friends" in dialog

The last 4 are...

• God and Job in dialog
• The teardown of the story

You find out from the last 4 chapters that neither Job or his friends concept of God and how he works in the world are accurate.

Today, in the Naked Pastor's blog (pastor and artist), he posted this cartoon.

How often do we put our God or our faith in a box? Sometimes, I guess, it is necessary. It gives us parameters to live within. On the other hand, to many people seem to believe that everyone should be the same. That isn't the way God worked in the world. Each tribe of Israel had it's own history and tribal personality. Some failed in their lives with God, some succeeded. That is true with each of us.

Another Birthday has come and gone

What left a mark?

• The joy in my son's face as he gave me his hand picked gift. "The John Lennon Collection Collectors Tin".
• Beating my parents to the "Happy Birthday" phone call with the phrase "Happy My Birthday" as they answered the phone.
• Finding out that we finally did get the Amazon Wish List to work and I now am looking forward to reading "The Nature of Atonement" and "Hebrew Thought compared with Greek" and listen to "Whole Lotta Blues - The Songs of Led Zeppelin".
• Finding out I now look in my 40's instead of 30's.

I think, what left it's mark most recently was waking up because of "partying too hard" and having to take TUMS. That Cookie Dough DQ Blizzard was good however.

1, 2, 21, 22

Yesterday, I wrote about reading the "whole gospel". In other words, reading the Bible from Genesis 1 rather than Genesis 3 and reading through Revelation 22, rather than Revelation 20.

Let me give an example.

A popular evangelism technique is called the "Romans Road". In the past, I've been trained in using the "Romans Road" but have always felt a little strange using it.

In the "Romans Road", you are to first turn to Romans 3:23.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Where does this start the discussion? Genesis 3...

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." (Genesis 3:21-22)

What would change if the "whole gospel" were used? Although there are lots of places to start, lets try Genesis 1:27.

So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

This can then be followed up by verses like Romans 3:23 and so on.

What about the other end of the story. If we do not read to Revelation 21-22, you get this (again from the Romans Road).

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

While this is true, it speaks nothing of the return to paradise described in Revelation 21-22. If we wanted to stay with the Romans theme, look at Romans 8:20-22.

20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?

What does it come down to?

If we read from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, we see a creation that is, as the Calvinist would say, Totally Depraved, ending the story with God's judgement of the world.

In reading from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, we see a creation that was made in the image of God and declared good. While that creation did sin, there is hope through Christ and, in the end, those adopted into God's family get to live in the redeemed world with God.

The perfect storm?

This is a bunch of thoughts that have converged together...

A couple of years ago, I listened to a talk Scot McKnight gave on "The Whole Gospel". In this talk he expresses concern that we are not, as a church, preaching on Genesis through Revelation.

In "From Eternity to Here", Frank Viola states that most of the evangelical church today teaches from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20 and needs to look at Genesis 1 through Revelation 22.

Today, I listened to a message from Rob Bell at Mars Hill Bible Church titled The Importance of Beginning in the Beginning which talks about the same thing. He also states that if we do start at Genesis 3 rather than Genesis, our view of God changes and we start to separate the wonder of the creation from God himself.

Here is where the perfect storm starts....

Jerry Falwell stated (and apologized for saying) that the September 11 attacks on the US were God's judgement on homosexual sin in the US.

Others believed that the tsunamis in 2004 were God's judgement on the affected areas. Pat Robertson claimed the hurricanes which struck New Orleans were also God's judgement.

This week in Minneapolis, a tornado struck a Evangelical Lutheran (ELCA) church, causing minor damage. There was a claim that this is a warning from God to turn from "the approval of sin". This has caused a lot of controversy in the blogosphere. There is discussion here as well as links to some of the comments.

Why the perfect storm comment? Because this dovetails into the thoughts from Scot McKnight, Frank Viola and Rob Bell. I believe that those who declare natural disasters (large or small) to be Gods Judgement on (fill in the blank) are starting the Gospel at "The Fall", not at "Creation".

Did God use natural disasters as Judgement? In some cases, yes. One would be hard pressed to explain Sodom and Gomorrah as anything else. The difference is that there were no innocent parties involved there. That tends to hold up throughout scripture.

200100

I have to brag just a little. This is a picture I took with my cell phone of the odometer of our 1998 Dodge Caravan (minivan). Yes, it's only 11 years old (that's a little over 18,000 miles per year) and has had no major transmission or engine work done yet. We are quite happy with it so far.

Our biases

I caught just a bit of the story on the confirmation of Justice Sotomayer as they were heading to vote. The announcer mentioned the block of opponents who thought she was too biased to be a good Supreme Court Justice.

I found this to be a bit ironic. You see, what I believe they were really saying is that her biases didn't match theirs so she didn't appear unbiased...

To truly be unbiased, you must ignore your own personal opinion and side with right, with "Justice". I don't know that any of us can be unbiased, that is a hard thing to do. I believe, however, that it is probably a Christ-like thing to be.

Extreme Sheep Herding...

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

They have been the rocks in my life. Always there, always supportive.

Happy Anniversary!

Back from Oregon

We pulled in about 12:15 last night on our return trip. Here are the highlights.

• Our car passed 200K miles on the way back. Many people have difficulty believing that a Dodge Caravan could do that well being "American made". Some of this is because we do care for the car, some because it is a good car, 11 years old and this makes just over 18K miles per year.
• Marj and I had a pleasant journey out alone because Kyle flew out a week early to visit cousins, etc. We finished "Transition" on the way.
• The Garmin GPS was invaluable... I like the interface and, with a few quirks, it was accurate. Once, a wrong turn by me proved to be a great re-route through the desert of Eastern Oregon. It helped us find a good Chinese restaurant up the coast and even provided the phone number for it.
• If you have to go through Eastern Oregon, I-84 is a lot more scenic than US-20, until you hit the Willamatte Valley.
• We got a couple of clearer days but the spot we were in on the Oregon coast was somewhat overcast most of the time... But BEAUTIFUL! Living in Colorado all these years, however, I could see that I might start getting a little crazy without nearly daily sunshine.

We arrived at the coast yesterday, after dropping the dogs off at a kennel.

I thought the temperatures were chilly (about 60F) but was told they were perfect.

I took the following pictures as the sun set over the horizon.

On vacation...

We've been on vacation since Friday. Packed up the dogs and headed west.

Here are some of the photos we have taken...

These were taken over the Snake River near Twin falls, Idaho.

Listen to the Jesus Manifesto

Last month, I wrote about the Jesus Manifesto. I have read the manifesto several times but listening to it was a big treat for my ears. Especially to hear the authors read it. You can listen here. Turn it on, sit back and close your eyes...

Stockholm Syndrome

Derek Webb is in the process of releasing a CD called "Stockholm Syndrome". It's got challenging lyrics to listen to. Jesus Creed posted about it and you can listen to one of his songs there.

Stockholme Syndrome is described here as:

The term, Stockholm Syndrome, was coined in the early 70's to describe the puzzling reactions of four bank employees to their captor. On August 23, 1973, three women and one man were taken hostage in one of the largest banks in Stockholm. They were held for six days by two ex-convicts who threatened their lives but also showed them kindness. To the world's surprise, all of the hostages strongly resisted the government's efforts to rescue them and were quite eager to defend their captors. Indeed, several months after the hostages were saved by the police, they still had warm feelings for the men who threatened their lives. Two of the women eventually got engaged to the captors.

As I thought about is, I started wondering why the title? Is it possible that I am experiencing Stockholm Syndrome?

Completing the TULIP/BEERS debate

Grace has completed the TULIP vs BEERS debate with her final post, TULIP or BEERS: Perseverence of the Saints. I also updated the list I posted earlier.

From Eternity to Here - Take a listen

Frank Viola has posted chapter 1 of his book in audio format here. If you want to hear what struck me, take a listen.

Interesting postings 2

The second series of interesting posts is from the "From the Pew" blog. I got interested in Steve's work when he posted "What I used to believe, What I now believe".

He has a series he calls "Scripture American Style". His first post (and introduction to the series) is here. Again, I find Steve's blogs thought provoking.

Interesting postings

I've been following a couple of bloggers with interest. I'll detail them in separate posts.

The first is from "Kingdom Grace". She has been posting for the last few days on "Doctrines of Grace". She has had 5 posts looking at the 5 points of Calvinism -- TULIP vs. her view she calls BEERS.

TULIP is an acronym for a systematic theology (a systematic way of looking at how God operates in our world. This interests me for several reasons.

• First, I've had several discussions with people around many of these points. In fact, while in college, many of the friends I had held fast to many if not all of these points.
• Second, as I listen and apply the Bible (through Daily Audio Bible), I am gaining a different picture of how God has and does work in this world.

While I don't agree with everything Grace talks about, I have found the discussion compelling and thought provoking.

So far, along with the introduction, there are only TULI and BEER so I am expecting one more post soon.

You can read them all

• Introduction
• Total Depravity vs Broken Icons
• Unconditional Election vs Eternal Purpose
• Limited Atonement vs Extravagant Atonement
• Irresistible Grace vs Response to Grace
• Perseverence of the Saints vs Shalom

I'll add the last post to this list when it appears.

Save The Antelope

A friend sent this video to me. I just knew it had to be out on YouTube (and it was).

A Jesus Manifesto

Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet have published an excellent document called "The Jesus Manifesto". Whether you agree or not, it's worth the read. You can also download the manifesto here (to save it to the drive, right click and "Save to Disk").

Toto’s “Africa” performed by Perpetuum Jazzile

Brian from the Coverville podcast posted this and thought I'd share it here. I love the sound effects they create at the beginning of the song but found they sound better through headphones than my laptop speakers.

Perpetuum Jazzile is a vocal group from Slovenia*. There are several more videos available on YouTube.

* Location above was corrected...

The worst...

I was listening to a radio show (on the web) today that mentioned Men's Health Worst Meals.  You can get the list of the "worst" things to eat here.  Quizno's does make the list, Subway does not.