Coley
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Chill //NOISE: Kid’s running in circles
Thanks to Travis Haughton for this shot of Coley that he snapped in the hallway at Riv. I take absolutely no credit for it. I say that because I am posting it in the photo section and I want to make sure no one thinks I took it. I just love it and want to keep it stored there.
Bloglines Tracking
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Delighted //ITUNES: “Let Me Out” - Future Leaders of the World
Alright, this is way cool. Bloglines can now track shipments for you. I am going to cry this is so beautiful.
Looking for a College
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Spectacular //ITUNES: “Vanguard” - John Fischer
Well…look no more. If this video doesn’t convince you to go Appalachian State University, you are a cold soul-less person with no taste.
New Blog
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Green //ITUNES: “Let’s Hear If For The Boy” - Denise Williams>
I’d like to welcome my friend Jon to the world of blogging. Well, technically, he’s not a friend. He’s related to a friend of mine. However, since he doesn’t have a lot of friends, I guess I can call him a friend.
It’s cool to see him blogging. He is very good at articulating precisely what is on his mind. This blog is the perfect reflection of his personality.
Welcome, Jon. It’s good to have you in cyberspace.
Apple Snobbery
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Stuck Up //ITUNES: “When You Sleep”
As if we needed the ammo, my friend Mark has sent me definitive proof that will help Mac Users be snobs.
Here’s the summary statement:
“Overall, the results are pretty clear: Mac users might not actually be smarter than PC users, but they certainly use better English and a larger vocabulary to express more complex thinking.”
South Park
Mar 31, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Don’t know, really //ITUNES: “Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-Flat major”
It’s ironic that Terri Schiavo has passed away because today I was going to blog about it. Well, not precisely, I was going to blog about Kenny McCormick.
Last night, on South Park they killed Kenny. Twice, actually. Because a day after he died they put him on life support and parodied Terri Schiavo’s situation. In South Park’s usual pointed way, they addressed all the major issues in this case. I appreciated Cartman’s line:
“Your side is wrong for the right reasons. Our side is right for the wrong reasons.”
Then, they read Kenny’s last will, which stated that if he was ever in a persistently vegitative state he did not want to be on national television. That made me think about how unfortunate it is that this woman has become an unknowing pawn on both sides of the fence. It’s also really sad to see how this issue has torn her family to pieces.
I also appreciated South Park’s sub-plot, which was that the angels needed Kenny to defeat Satan in a giant siege on Heaven and they were just about to go to war when his soul was sent back down to Earth. I liked hearing Michael the Archangel say:
“Oh my God, they killed Kenny…again.”
Mac Love
Mar 30, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Macstatic //ITUNES: “Love Song” - 311
Say hello to the latest family member at Riv:
That makes it 9 Windows to 5 Macs. We’re still losing, but gaining ground.
Blogroll
Mar 28, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Sunshiney //ITUNES: “Go or Go Ahead” - Rufus Wainwright
I updated my blogroll on the right. There were a bunch of sites I was evaluating for awhile that I have now slapped into categories. I also added a few friends. As always, if I have linked to you and you want to be deleted, just let me know.
Theology
Mar 28, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Arg //ITUNES: “Dragula” - Rob Zombie
Sorry about the Arg. The wireless is not working at Riv, so I am grounded to a wire. It makes me Arg a bit.
Anyhoo, I was doing my morning blogread and I stumbled on an interesting conversation. It centers around the question “Are the Primary Evangelical Critics of the Emerging Church Conversation Calvinists?”
Here are links to the conversation: Link 1 | Link 2 | Link 3
This got me thinking about a tangent. One thing I have noticed in the “emerging church” movement is that they tend to be very “reformed” in their theology. (Which makes it interesting at least that the primary critics are perceived as Calvinist.)
Particularily, there is an over-riding emphasis in emergent writings on the Kingdom being here and now in either a spiritual or subversive form. Many emergent writers seem to be either amillenial or postmillenial in their approach to the Kingdom. Many also seem to discount any involvement Israel may have in the future.
It’s interesting that many emergent thinkers/writers try to avoid labels, and so they say “I am not reformed or dispensational or **insert label here**” and yet their theology shows they do subscribe to an established theological tradition.
Now, I also hate the concept of labels. With that said, we all have particular bents in various areas. And when we evaluate those bents, we have to kinda adopt a label. That’s just the nature of the beast. Here are a few labels that I think I would subscribe to, if I was forced to say where I am coming from theologically:
Pre-Millenial, Dispensational
At the same time, I seek to engage a postmodern culture. Now, can those three things co-exist? I have looked around for any prominent or even hidden writers / thinkers that adopt a combination even close to this. Do they exist? Am I alone? Has anyone else noticed this?
Packed to the Gills
Mar 27, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Headachey //NOISE: Jesse asking Grace a lot of questions
We went to the 10ish service at Riv this morning. It was packed. Our auditorium only seats 450. We had chairs packed all the way to the edges, there were people standing along the walls and sitting on the floors. We also set up about 40 chairs in the lobby and left the doors open so people could look in. All things told, there were 635 people jammed in there. Here are some shots:
Steve did an awesome job sharing the Gospel. It wasn’t the typical easter message. One of my favorite lines was “we need to repent if we think we have to be good or moral. We need to repent and realize we need to be rescued.”
Quote of the Day
Mar 26, 2005 Quotes
//MOOD: Laughing //TIVO: Desperate Housewives
Grace: “Why are you watching Desperate Housewives?”
Me: “Because it’s the day before Easter and the only thing on is a lot of Jesus crap.”
Happy Easter from the Heikkinens.
Clean Garage
Mar 26, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Clean //TIVO: AOL Commercial
I am not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination. But there are a few things I love. The first is an organized closet and dresser. I like my clothes to live in a neat little world where they are nicely folded and ironed and sorted by type.
The other thing I like is a clean garage. Twice a year, I clean my garage. Today was that day. I moved the shovels and sleds and other winter stuff into the rafters and pulled down the bikes. Then I completely cleaned the garage and even swept it out. It took me the entire afternoon. When I was done, I returned the cans and bottles:
364 bottles and cans. I don’t think I have returned a single one this entire winter. But apparently Kroger only allows you to return $25 worth at a time. So I have to carry around these little slips of paper until next time I go back to Kroger to get my $11.40.
But at least I have a very clean garage.
Two Pictures
Mar 26, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Winding Down //TIVO: Jesus of Nazareth
Here is a snapshot of an average night at my house:
Here is Jaden’s latest fashion statement. Apparently, socks go on the outside:
Yahoo!
Mar 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Yippee //NOISE: Jesse just said “Dad?”
When you do a search for “heikkinen” on Yahoo’s new Creative Commons search engine, I am the first site to pop up. Cool.
Gurus and Heroes
Mar 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Nice…just nice //ITUNES: “Take Me Home Tonight” - Eddie Money
I was talking with a friend today. He is the interim pastor at a church that is going through quite a period of transition. He made the most interesting comment:
“I hate two things in the church. Guru worship and Hero worship.”
He went on to explain what he meant. He says many churches look for a Guru or a Hero to lead them. The Guru follows all the cool new trends, reads all the cool new books, and spends a lot of time trying out the latest church growth fads. The Hero is the one leader that will swoop into a church and fix everything. Each becomes the focal point of the church and leads everything through a strong personality that cannot be questioned, because he knows everything.
It reminds me of what Mark Driscoll said at a conference I was at this year. He was talking about false gospels we follow. One was “a virtuous man.” When we put all our hopes and dreams on one person to be the savior of a church, we forget one thing: he is still a sinner.
Good Friday Thoughts
Mar 25, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Sneezy //ITUNES: “Yielding” - Todd Proctor
“Out, damned spot!” That is the true cry of human nature. That stain cannot be removed without blood, and that which is infinitely more, and deeper, and profounder, and more terrible than blood, of which blood is but the symbol - the suffering of Deity.
-G. Campbell Morgan
Salvation is not some felicitous state to which we can lift ourselves by our own bootstraps after the contemplation of sufficiently good examples. It is an utterly new creation into which we are brought by our death in Jesus’ death and our resurrection in his. It comes not out of our own best efforts, however well-inspired or successfully pursued, but out of the shipwreck of all human efforts whatsoever.
-Robert Farrer Capon
Bods
Mar 24, 2005 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Hungry //SMELL: Chicken a la Noel
Interesting post on Brain Orme’s site. He says, in part:
The other night I caught part of an interview on Access Hollywood with Jessica Alba…Billy, the interviewer, asked Jessica about being ‘born again’. Her response was interesting…she said, “I used to be. When I was a kid, yeah.” She went on to talk about the reason that she chose not to be born-again, “Because a lot of people gave me grief for being a woman–and made me feel ashamed for having a body because it tempted men”…
The same type of rhetoric was used by Jessica Simpson’s father (a former Baptist pastor), he said that it was hard to get a Christian contract because of the way Jessica looked–Christian labels didn’t want to deal with it. I think it’s interesting–there is [some] validity in questioning the way the church views the body. How should we deal with these issues in the church? Should we ignore the body? Make people feel guilty? Or, should we somehow learn to deal with these issues regarding the body in a way that is freeing but still appropriate and modest? Is this really even an issue, today? I think it’s a needed conversation, if for no other reason than to clarify some misconceptions.
This is something I have thought about in the context of our local church situation. With such high numbers of young people coming around, and therefore a lot of trendy clothes (read: “scant clothes”), I have wondered how we should think about this.
I think Justin did a good job talking about this at the High School group at Riv last night. He talked about the need for women to take guy’s struggle with lust stuff into consideration when they make fashion choices. But he didn’t stop there, he laid equal responsibility on the guys to make sure they treat women with respect and not objectify them, no matter what they wear.
I liked John Eldredge’s perspective at a conference a few years ago. He talked about the difference between appreciating the beauty of a woman (including her attractive body) as a good thing. We are wired to notice, first of all. If we didn’t notice a woman’s beauty, we may never procreate… Secondly, they are created in God’s image, and that includes all of them. In balance, though, when we cross the line from appreciation to “lust in our heart,” we have gone too far. It is an incredibly hard line to walk, but we could easily fall off either side of this razor’s edge.
