The First Snow
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
You owe it to yourself to read this beautiful tribute to the first snow of the year.
Oh, the Sweet Irony
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Do you really want to know? }
To add insult to injury, it seems as if the towing company damaged my car. Yes, yes, it does seem that way. Now hopefully I can prove it.
Iraq Homeland Security
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
From The Onion, here is the Iraqi Homeland Security Terror Alert System:
Robbie
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Trippy | ITUNES: “World’s Most Handsome Man” - Robbie Williams }
“You can’t argue with popularity…well you could, but you’d be wrong.” - Robbie Williams
Fight Club
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great | ITUNES: “Beautiful Addiction” - Audiovent }
Interestingly enough, I was watching “Fight Club” as I was working out last night and I heard this quote that I really resonated with. Then, on Jeremy’s Blog today that he quoted that same part! I felt it must have been a sign, so I am going to post it, as well.
“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”
Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) Fight Club
Yowza
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Overwhelmed | ITUNES: “Best Sides” - The Gold }
My email has been down since Sunday. It just kicked back in and I got a ton of mail from the messages this weekend. I don’t have time to respond to them all right away, so hopefully if you sent me a message you will read this and see that I am not intentionally ignoring you. Hmmm…I have an idea. I am going to print some excerpts here (without personal details) and let you faithful readers respond for me. This should be fun.
First Note
…I grew up in a pretty strict Baptist home; grandfather and great-grandfather were both southern Baptist ministers. I didn’t go to church very often during college, or for a couple years thereafter …During this period I met my current girlfriend (3 years and marriage a definite possibility). She grew up a strict catholic. We have been attending Riverview together; however, now with marriage on her brain, she wants to get back into the catholic church to make it an “official” wedding in the eyes of God (and, I suspect, in the eyes of her parents). She no longer attends Riverview.
I’ve always had a difficult time reconciling the doctrine of “grace by faith alone,” which I believe, and passages in James and 2 Peter, which you’ve talked about
over the past couple of weeks, seemingly dealing with good works as a
part of obtaining and/or retaining salvation – which is, in my mind,
probably the biggest difference between catholic and protestant theology.
Maybe there isn’t a crisp, clean answer, or I suspect there wouldn’t be different
interpretations…I thought this and some other catholic/protestant
distinctions fell pretty nicely in your “non-negotiable” message this
past Sunday, especially in light of theological conflicts that seem to be
making their way to the forefront in my life.
Note 2
…However, one of the things I’ve been wondering about, which you briefly acknowledged when you started the 2 Peter series a few weeks ago, is why Riverview does topical sermons. I’ve really really enjoyed the past few weeks of expository preaching - the church I was a part of in (EDITED) taught that way. I find it very enlightening; personally I think I learn topics more deeply when I study them in the context of the letter or book they are contained in - and I really appreciate the way that the Word has sprung to life (not that it wasn’t living before) as you’ve taught it. Praise God. 
I remember you also talking about your studies of the early church and explaining that Riverview attempts to operate according to the style of the early church. Does this have something to do with your (other pastors included) preference for topical teaching, or are there other persuasions behind it?
Note 3
…You said one thing on Saturday that caught my interest. What I heard you
say was something like: One of the characteristics of false teachers is
that they deny Jesus, which includes anything that Jesus said. I think you
specifically mentioned believing that there are other ways to heaven.
I guess I’ve generally seen a distinction between denying Jesus and
disagreeing with (or creatively interpretting) some of the things he
said.
For example, is it necessary to believe that Jesus is the only way to
heaven? Or merely for me to depend on Jesus for forgiveness of my sins
even if I believe that there are other ways that someone else might get to
heaven? Like open theism, I’m not suggesting these are trivial matters,
but wasn’t sure that all of Jesus’ teachings went in the small glass.
Note 4
…and some of my friends and I have been discussing the issue of “once saved, always saved.” I was wondering if you could offer any information and especially verses that pertained to this. There’s just some confusion about it.
That should do for now. Anyone who wants to answer these folks while I cram can feel free. I’ll pass on any good nuggets to them. Thanks for your help.
Open Theism
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great | ITUNES: “Taking Over Me” - Evanescence }
A lot of people have asked me for more information on Open Theism since my message this last weekend. Here are two resources to help you chew on this topic:
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry has this decent page that is dedicated to Open Theism. It does a good job laying out the premise behind Open Theism, as well as a biblical response.
My friend Rob slapped this comparison up for y’all. It evaluates Open Theism in comparison with Classical Theism and Freewill Theism. This comes from “Does God Have A Future?: A Debate on Divine Providence” by Christopher Hall & John Sanders.
Hopefully these will help you out a bit.
Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind
Nov 30, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Cold | ITUNES: “I Can’t Be With You” - The Cranberries }
I finally watched Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind last night. I had started it on the plane in August, but never finished it. Great movie.
I loved the picture of flawed love. They had their problems and they were great enough to want to erase their entire relationshiop, but ultimately they decided that even a flawed relationship was worth it. It was interesting to see the relationship from the point of break-up backward. That would be a great exercise, really. To sit there and process your marriage, relationship, whatever in reverse order, finally landing on the things you were first attracted to.
And I continue to like Jim Carrey better in his serious roles. Just like Adam Sandler, Ashton Kutcher, and Robin Williams.
Taylor Mali
Nov 29, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Still Average | NOISE: Hummmmmmm }
A lot of people have wanted a copy of Taylor Mali’s poem I read this week at Riv. Here it is. Enjoy.
In case you hadn’t noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)’s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren’t, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don’t think I’m uncool just because I’ve noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It’s like what I’ve heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I’m just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we’ve just gotten to the point where it’s just, like . . .
whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we’ve become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.
No Mail
Nov 29, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Average | IPOD: “Lake of Fire” - Nirvana }
AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I cannot receive any mail and my outgoing mail seems to be disappearing into the a black hole.
Oh well.
Butterfly Effect
Nov 29, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Tired | NOISE: None }
I have to say I am not a big Ashton Kutcher fan, but I just watched the movie “The Butterfly Effect” and loved it. It reminded me of “Punch Drunk Love” in one way. Both movies had actors who are corn balls most of the time, but actually are able to act with the right script.
Update
Nov 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Lonely | ITUNES: “Tura-Lura-Lura” - Ray Charles & Van Morrison }
I have been entertaining myself for the better part of an hour by converting my friend and other links on the left to BlogLines. Many thanks to Dan for hooking me up with this site. I read so many blogs and it is so hard for me to keep up with them and keep the links on this site current. Now, I can do so.
Also, some people have not liked the traffic generated on their site from mine, so I have removed them. I have only kept those whose permission I have or who I can safely assume don’t mind the extra hits. Please let me know if you want your site added or deleted.
Now off to eat my soup.
Randomness
Nov 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Pretty Good | MUSIC: Dan’s band playing “Forever” }
Some random thoughts from the last few days.
I still hate silence. I came home from Riv last night and my house was bone silent. I hate that. But I decided to live in it for awhile. So I sat down and read my bible (some crazy stuff in the end of Daniel) and prayed. Then, when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I turned the TV on. Nothing good. So I went downstairs and worked out for awhile. That was good, but I was still bored. Grace called and we chatted for awhile, which was nice.
I love suprise personal gifts. Gifts are definitely not a big deal for me. But recently, I have received two that have meant a lot. My dad hooked me up with a weight bench (a real nice one) and a bunch of free weights. I didn’t expect it. My birthday isn’t for a few weeks, he just wanted to give it to me early. Then, last night at Riv a guy Sean who I have been emailing with gave me a book. This was a book I had heard a quote from and loved and he said he had read the whole thing. So, out of the blue, he gives me the book. So cool.
I finally taught on the truth deal. Kinda. I am going through the book of 2nd Peter right now and I got a chance to hit on it a bit. If you are looking for my thoughts on the word “know” or what constitutes “false teaching,” I encourage you to download the teaching and post your thoughts here.
Thanksgiving
Nov 27, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: This is going to sound cheesy, but “Thankful” | ITUNES: “All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name” - Passion Hymns }
I have had a crap few days. Here are the bullets:
*Wednesday: Left for Chicago (me in my car, Grace and kids in a rental van), Got stuck in huge winter storm, 6 Hours of driving only brought us to Indiana, stayed at Heidi’s (my sister) house in Indiana because we were tired of driving 10-40 miles an hour
*Thursday: Left Heidi’s for Chicago, Got stuck in construction traffic, Went 3 miles in 1.5 hours, Finally arrived at Grace’s brother’s for Thanksgiving dinner, Went to Grace’s dad’s house, Slept
*Friday: Left Grace’s dad’s house to go home (Grace stayed in Chicago with the kids), Got stuck in traffic North of Chicago, Made it to Indiana, Car died on Tollway, Brother-in-law rescued me, Borrowed my mom’s car (a bright yellow VW bug), Left my car in Indiana to be repaired, Drove home, Went to church late at night to work, Came home, slept
I woke up this morning and I started out in a bad mood because of the last few days. As I showered and got ready, I began to reflect on the thing’s Christ has done for me. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I am forgiven. That may sound strange, but God just reminded me that when he looks at me, he sees me through his son’s blood. I don’t know why that was such a big deal, but it started a great prayer time. Then, I thought about all the things in the last few days that were things to be thankful for:
*We didn’t get into an accident driving in the snow storm. There were tons of cars in the ditch and my son was in the car with me, praying that we would be safe. We were.
*My sister lives in Indiana, so we had a place to stop for the night.
*My mom was visiting Heidi, so I got to hang out with her and my neices. Mom, Heidi, Grace and I stayed up late laughing and telling stories
*My kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins and sleeping on their floors, camping out
*We got to hang out with Grace’s brother, mom, and dad
*My car died in Indiana, near my sister’s
*My mom was still there, so I could borrow her car
Lots of good stuff, mixed in with the bad. And I am forgiven.
Now back to writing my message for tonight. Then, I will give the message four times, get back into the bright yellow bug and go back to Indiana to wait for my car to be repaired next week. But I am good with that.
Here are some pictures from the time at Heidi’s:
Nov 25, 2004 Uncategorized
So we took off yesterday for chicago and after six hours had only made it to indiana because of the snow. We crashed at my sisters pad and had a blast. Now we are back on the road and everything looks like smooth sailing! Happy turkey day!
Computer
Nov 23, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: OK | ITUNES: “A Gospel Number” - Over the Rhine }
Thanks to Erin for this great picture from Popular Mechanics back in 1954. Just in case you can’t read the text at the bottom, this is what it says:
“Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a ‘home computer’ could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now, scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.”
Politics
Nov 23, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Swell | ITUNES: “The Statue Got Me High” - They Might Be Giants }
This is interesting. A few logic leaps from the survey to this assessment, me thinks:
|
You Are a “Don’t Tread On Me” Libertarian |
 You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don’t belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion… and you feel opressed by both. You don’t want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else’s for that matter. You’re proud to say that you’re pro-choice on absolutely everything! |
Goodbye James 2
Nov 22, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Great | TIVO: $25 Million Dollar Hoax }
From The Holy Observer, here is an excerpt from a great article:
In many ways it was simply the last straw for Fred Meade, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Helena.
“I’ve never been comfortable with the content of James chapter 2,” Meade told THO in a phone interview. “But when I heard John Kerry quote from it in the last presidential debate to support his pro-abortion stance, well, that was it for me. I just could not stand the thought of having something in my Bible that has come out of the mouth of a liberal senator from Massachusetts. I went directly to my bed stand and tore that chapter right out of my leather-bound King James Version.”
Little did Meade know that his actions would create a ripple effect across the nation.
Coming Out
Nov 22, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Swell | ITUNES: “Rag Doll” - Maroon 5 }
Thanks to Aaron for passing this article on to me. It’s called “Coming Out for One of Their Own: An Oklahoma Teen Finds Love Where He Least Expected It”. It’s a good read on several fronts.
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Nov 21, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Decent, but tired | NOISE: Boys pretending to be superheroes }
You can download part two of our series on Second Peter here.
This is going to be a crazy week. Mid-week holidays (and all the family and travel stuff) doesn’t mean that I can alter the amount of stuff I have to do for the weekend services. So I have a few days to cram for next weekend. Fun stuff. I am also in the throes of Ignite planning, too. Fun fun fun.
