pharisees revisited

Something a bit more spiritual in nature, I absolutely loved this current day re-telling of scripture that Wade Hodges whipped up. I think he captured in much fewer words, something I was trying to say in my previous article about modern day pharisees. Definitely check it out and read the comments...

A Retelling of an Old Story

Enjoy!

i'm not a parent but

Something about this article just trips my "common sense" alarm.

TV's can kill, study says

I don't mean to be crass and uncaring about children, as one day I plan on having some myself, but I think there are better things to be doing than adding more idiot-proofing to consumer products. One would think that the concept of children climbing on or around a television should set off a parenting alarm in most people. Rule #1: TV's are not furniture, as such don't sit on them, climb on them or otherwise attempt to misuse them. Rule #2: Most TV's are heavy, and thus should be afforded some level of caution when moving or in the "I might bump it" proximity of one. While I think it is tragic that children are being hurt from unstable TV's, but I wholeheartedly ascribe to the real life experience learning method. This method follows this logic: there is nothing dangerous to children in keeping a large, heavy TV on a wobbly or unstable piece of furniture -- when you tell them not to touch the TV they should understand its for their own benefit. If they so choose to pull the TV on top of them a few times... they'll learn not to do that. This also applies to hot stoves, electrical outlets, and pets.

Of course you should know, that yes I am being snarky and perhaps sarcastic, I would never leave dangerous objects or anything lying about for children to be hurt by. However, the concept of parental supervision and discipline is something I think is falling by the wayside in the U.S. I mean seriously, we should strap down our televisions because they are heavy and often weighted towards the front?!?! I swear, if this grows beyond the current level of media coverage to the point of legislative lobbying for regulation I will go insane. Some days I truly believe that we are dumbing down society in America... I might need to put a big, flashy, unavoidable warning label on this blog so people who don't want to examine some of the more philosophical and spiritual aspects of their life aren't harmed by reading the material it contains.

Thus endeth the rant....
Cheers!

intriguing world of video and marketing

I came across some interesting things today that I decided I needed to take the time to share, and share my thoughts. So without any further ado...

Healing, Sick and Dying Churches
"Perhaps local churches aren't meant to last forever, but the universal Church is, and so it will continue growing in some way."
I really like this article for the main reason that it highlights the facts that:

1. church growth does NOT correlate directly to church health.
2. church decline does NOT always have to be a negative experience.

A New Law
A rather poignant music video by Derek Webb, thanks to Matt Ritchie for the link. At first I thought that the main thrust was "a new law" from a political point of view, meaning the tug of war between Republican and Democratic influence on our nation's laws; some of which remove our need to think and see for ourselves. However, as I continued watching I started to see another aspect -- a new Law, as in give me a new set of guidelines in the tradition of The Law and Prophets, that I can follow blindly without having to think about how my faith can truly be an impact (good or bad) for my life and those around me.

Dance Monkey, Dance!
An eye opening look at humanity, link courtesy of Rev Dan of Outchurched. Warning, the content of this video could be offensive to some viewers. Not offensive because of language, explicit content, or other stereotypical content that gets labeled as questionable, but rather this could be offensive because it smacks you in the face with ideas you may find uncomfortable. It is not funny, it is not scary, and it is not inspirational; it is, however, insightful...

Enjoy!

scattered, frazzled, but sane

It seems my penchant for blogging drags when it rains, and blogging drought during continuous rainfall if you will. However, things have been complicated lately by the comings and goings of work and life. So to be fair to those who stop by to see what controversial, enlightening, or just plain stupid things I write, I thought it was time for at least an update of what I've been up to and what I will be up to in the coming months.

To get the boring stuff out of the way (for some not all), I have had a ton of opportunity and good fortune fall my way at work lately. Aside from the obvious "love my job, happy to blessed with employment and excellent management" type of stuff, I've also been selected for some interesting career opportunities. Essentially, for 5 weeks in July/August I will be up to my ears in techie goodness as I work with a few other people from around the world to research and write a technical book. I won't pretend that many of you will understand what the book entails, but for me it is a great opportunity to share my knowledge of best practices for a product I've used for 5 years and also learn about the latest and greatest version that we are writing about. So I'll won't just be a techie, I'll be a published techie and contributing to some of the same series of books that I learned from early in my career. So combine that with some vacation and I will possibly be somewhat silent in the next few months on the blog front -- not necessarily being still but more like being busy.

To something a bit more fun, Sunday I had the chance to swing by Boston and check out Jo Henley. They were awesome, and while they list their musical influences on their site, I found I had my own take based upon my musical tastes. To my ear, I heard influences from Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, Live, James Taylor, Jack Johnson, and maybe some Jars of Clay. Basically, they have a really sweet sound that rolls along smoothly, and yet still jolts with you the energy that they produce. The music is an awesome blend of rock, country, folk, and alternative styles that just hits home -- and this coming from a guy who grew up listening to grunge, hard rock, alternative and avoiding country like the plague, I guess time changes tastes. You can listen to some of their music either by downloading from johenley.com or listening with the built-in player on their mySpace site. However, as it is most times, they put on an awesome live show -- and in this case the recorded stuff they have at the moment doesn't include their full band. And in case you are wondering why I would throw this in my blog -- the lead singer is my cousin-in-law (wife's cousin's husband), this was the first time I ever heard him really play, and I was totally blown away. So if you are in the Boston area, or will be, and want some good live tunes -- check out Jo Henley at one of their gigs.

For the spiritual side of things, I've officially kicked off work with my friend Paul on our material we'll be presenting at the ACU Lectureship in September. I think we're slotted under the "Missional Leadership" category, though that's not quite what we'll be discussing. I think it would be a little more accurate to describe it as "how to live as a missional church". Some of the material will perhaps ruffle some feathers, but then again to water down what we want to say would be inauthentic -- and I am not about to put myself in front of a large group of people so I can present material I don't truly believe in. Also, the work on my own material has been slow going, mostly because its tough to find time to dedicate to it. It's a good thing I chose not to post it in a blog series, since I'd be way behind if I had. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll have enough to decide what to do with it. Prayers on both these fronts would be appreciated; while it's not exactly the direction I thought I'd be headed in my spiritual life, so far it seems to be working and feels right.

So basically, I'll try to get some controversial, inspired, or lame spiritual thoughts up when I can, just don't expect a regular flow of posts for a little while. Cheers!