Month: January 2009 Page 1 of 4

The first two thirds of this video is brilliant. He describes ideas as ‘brain crack’, ideas, that is, which we keep stored away and never really get to implementing. It’s worth watching as a stimulus to actually realize that not every idea is a good idea, and that ideas are meant to be implemented. It encourages us to pursue those ideas and dreams that we harbor, but fear trying. To realize that most ideas really aren’t good ones is a good and healthy realization.

However…

Only the first 2/3 of this (just a couple of minutes) is worthy watching. The last third is a song which is NOT worth listening to, especially if any use of the ‘f’ word is offensive. When he starts singing, turn it off. I’ve warned you…

My youngest daughter is “just 17, if you know what I mean, and the way she looks, is way beyond compare….”

Sorry. Got carried away.

All true, by the way, but not relevant.

What is relevant is her name – Jerusha. I could gush for some time about the meaning of that name, but that is not what is key here.

What is key here is a passage from a book that my son and I were reading, Freddy and the Bean Home News, a book originally published in 1943. In this book we were introduced to an expression that we had never before encountered.

Freddy the pig and his friends, the animals from the Bean farm, had been banished from public appearances by the devious Mr. Garble. You don’t have to know the story to know that when Freddy ran from the cover of some bushes into Mr. Garble’s presence, Mr. Garble was greatly surprised.

“Great Jumping Jerusha!” shouted Mr. Garble.

You can see why that passage interested me.

Caught your attention, didn’t I?

(You can relax, Barb.)

When I preach, I can look out upon a congregation and have a basic idea of, if not to whom I am preaching, at least how many.

Not so when blogging.

So, I subscribe to a couple of services which give a rough estimate of how many people on any given day or week or month stop by the blog. I can’t tell exactly who visits, but I can tell a lot about them. I know what country they are from, what operating system their computer is using, what browser they use, and, interestingly, what led them to the blog and what they looked at while there.

Yes, when you walk on the web, you leave LOTS of footprints (or ‘pootfrints’ as my son used to say).

Here is the interesting thing: the most frequently viewed page of all the posts I have written is one entitled The Emerging Blogger. This post was not particularly interesting or relevant or provocative. All I say in it is that I was resuming blogging after a lengthy hiatus. Hence the title.

But in our current ecclesiastical climate, ’emerging’ is a hip word attached to a movement in the church which has stirred up quite a bit of interest. My guess is that people looking into the subject search the web for those blogging from within the emerging movement. As they search, they end up at my site, on the basis of the title alone.

I’m sure they are then greatly disappointed, as will be any who came to this post interested in who knows what. I’m just curious if THIS title rises up to challenge ’emerging’.

Bill does not post often, by I appreciate his heart when he does.

Read this!

In case we forget to pray for any president, but especially for our new one, here is an insightful anecdote from the life of Harry Truman.

On April 12, 1945, Truman had been Vice President for only 82 days when he was urgently summoned from the Capitol to the White House. He was ushered into a room occupied by a few of FDR’s family and close associates.

Mrs. Roosevelt stepped forward and gently put her arm on Truman’s shoulder.

“Harry, the president is dead.”

Truman was unable to speak.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” he said at last.

“Is there anything we can do for you,” she said. “For you are the one in trouble now.”

—–

Quoted from David McCullough’s biography of Truman. I am, by the way, on page 354. Only 638 to go.

Lakewood Ranch Blood Center is good people doing good work. I know for certain that they are patient people. I have terrible veins, but dutifully every couple of months, they focus their skills and aim the needle and successfully draw a unit of blood from me, units which go on to help people in crisis, often in life threatening situations. Others agree with me: Tracie in particular is the Phlebotomist from Heaven.

Tomorrow, Saturday, January 24, the center staff celebrates the opening of their new home at the northwest corner of SR-70 and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. In addition to face painting and other activities for children, Cinnamental Bakers will be offering cinnamon roll samples through the entire celebration, from 11 AM to 3 PM or until the rolls run out.

As a special treat, IF you donate blood there on that day, you will receive a coupon from Cinnamental for free delivery on a future order of rolls.

We know all of this because Barb and I are Cinnamental Bakers, in case you did not know that.

So, if you come, look us up. We’d love to see you.

To Whom it May Concern:

I would like to publicly report the appearance of a person known to be unwelcome on the west coast of Florida. He goes by the name of ‘Jack’ Frost, real name unknown. An injunction was issued against him some time ago to prevent his unwelcome visitations to these regions, but I have it on good evidence that he was here last night. Please be on the lookout for this man and, if spotted, report him immediately to the authorities so that he might be sent back to places where is more, shall we say, warmly welcomed.

[Update: I have included the screenshot to the right so that those of you in other areas can be moved to sincere sympathy for us. You should note that the low last night was 20 degrees below normal. I hear you weeping.]

In a perfect world I would have the leisure to sit down and become far better informed about the issues creating such tension in the Middle East. At present, though, there are a few things of which I am quite certain:

1) Americans, and American Christians especially, ought not blindly back Israel in all she does. Israel is a government which will act according to its own self-interest. Those actions, like those of any government, will sometimes be just and sometimes be unjust. The modern day state of Israel is not to be equated with Biblical Israel, though some, through a mistaken interpretation of the Bible so argue and somehow conclude that Israel can do no wrong. That is, to my mind, foolish.

2) Though the Palestinian people may have just cause for a complaint against Israel, as well as against the international community which created Israel, we cannot justify the continual chain of terror by those who claim to act on their behalf. Sympathy is not o be won that way. Such acts are to be repudiated.

Of those things I am certain.

If one seeks more insight, I am told by knowledgeable friends that this is a trusted site for information regarding the existing conflict. I have not had time to peruse the site, but some of you may find insight there.

And I am reminded often that these conflicts do not simply involve Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims. There are Christians caught in the crossfire, both Israeli and Palestinian, who are a forgotten people, and yet who are trying desperately to live out Christ’s demolition of the dividing wall of hostility.

Finally, here is a portion of a note from the director of development of the United Bible Societies in Gaza, a Christian and a Palestinian. I like what he says.

Whom to blame and how far back we should go? What is the baseline for deciding justice? As a Palestinian/Jordanian Arab Christian I should naturally blame Israel and hold them responsible for the killing of many children in Gaza. But at the same time a Jewish friend can come and say the same against Hamas or other Palestinian or Arab governments or organizations and hold them responsible for the killing of many Jewish children. To engage in the blame game is to perpetuate the effect of violence and evil; it adds fuel to the fire. This does not mean acquitting the guilty, it means we submit the file of all the guilty ones, and I am one of them, to the One who judges justly and whose gates of mercy are always open for those who seek it.

The St. Petersburg Times has launched a fascinating project they call the Obameter. Combing President Obama’s campaign speeches and interviews, they found that he made 509 promises for action, from getting his daughters a puppy to more substantial matters. Now they are tracking his commitment to keeping those promises. Should be interesting to watch.