Microsoft iPod Marketing
Feb 28, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Simple
//ITUNES: Stupid Girl by Garbage
(Via The Apple Blog)
Danielsan
Feb 28, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Nice
//ITUNES: They Might Be Giants from the album “Flood” by They Might Be Giants
This week, Dan kicked out some bluegrass worship at church. He got some positive feedback and some negative feedback. And (can you imagine), the negative feedback was anonymous.
Read his great post about that at the Rivblog. Here’s a tiny bit of it. Read the whole thing for sure because he does a great job chewing on this stuff.
One thing I hear sometimes from people is “we went to another church on vacation and their music was sooooo slooowwww…” or “they had no young people there…” but this is the same type of thing is going on. These words meant to encourage are sometimes slaps on the face to another group of Christians. We are needlessly criticising our brothers and sisters who are trying to serve God in a different way. It all adds up to elitism and that takes away from the Gospel and from God, because in the end, God gets the glory. He’s the one who deserves it.
Chuck Norris Dating Tip
Feb 24, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Inspired
//ITUNES: Empty My Hands from the album “Beat” by Christopher Williams
(via: Monkeys For Helping)
Technorati Tags: chucknorris, datingtips
Quote of the Day
Feb 24, 2006 Quotes
//MOOD: Great
//ITUNES: push_up_hifi.mp3
Thanks to Jimmy for this quote from Charlie Peacock’s new book:
“Close your eyes, friend, and imagine. You’re high up in the air, in an aisle seat, looking past your neighbor and out the window. Down below you is a mass of cloud cover looking like fresh snow, marbled, marked with divots and craggy monuments of white. Imagine that your understanding of reality is defined by this view: what you see out the window and what’s proximate to you there in the plane’s cabin. The airplane and its passengers are what you might call a small, unique closed system moving inside what appears to be a vast space with a visible boundary of white mass below. Many well-meaning Christians, gathered together in various sects, present Christianity in just this way. They invite you to view reality from a very small window, and they are quite certain they’re providing you with an absolutely objective view of reality. If you join them, you are expected to see as the sect sees. Failure to embrace their view of reality is sometimes commensurate with failure to be a follower of Jesus. And when people say you’re not, and you are, it is very hurtful–and very troubling. For sects such as these, ‘anything other than absolute, unqualified, mathematically certifiable authenticity betrayed a soul adrift.’
Let’s imagine some more. Get out of your seat, reach into the compartment above, and carry the yellow package to the rest room.It’s a parachute.
Strap it on.
Now go to the big door with the red sign, open it, and jump.
When you pass through the white stuff, pull the cord. As you pass through the clouds, down below, previously hidden from your view, is a world of wonder and wickedness, joy and pain, sex, truth, and lies. It’s a place full of story where words are as plentiful as stars in the sky. And there’s land and promise. Land where God walked. Land belonging to Him, promise belonging to Him. It’s a place where men and women, boys and girls, either serve themselves or serve the God of the land and sky and all that ever was and is. This land and sea, this earth and water, is the jazz of God and humanity: order and improvisation, beauty and ashes, boundary and freedom, choice and counterchoice, mistakes and all. It is a place of storytelling and storied living.”
Bereans, Encouragers and Cowards
Feb 22, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Great
//ITUNES: Gone from the album “Crossing Muddy Waters” by John Hiatt
One of the interesting things about my job is the correspondence. I look forward to and dread Mondays at the same time. Mondays are the day I get feedback from the weekend service. It starts on Saturday Night and ends on Monday Night. I don’t check my email until Monday. The reason is the nature of the correspondence.
The notes can be divided into three categories.
Bereans
Acts 17:10 That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the synagogue. 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to check up on Paul and Silas, to see if they were really teaching the truth.
These are people who have legitimate questions about how I treated the Bible during the services. At Riverview, we place a high value on the written Word of God, and try to be as careful as possible in how we treat it. Often, when I doubt how I am interpreting a passage, I will bounce it off of some of the other pastors and leaders. However, there are always differences in how you interpret various passages. The “Berean” notes I get are people who have dug into the Word and come to a different conclusion than I did. These notes have a positive, respectful tone and I love dialoging with people like this. Many times, we will end up agreeing to disagree but will have an even greater respect for each other when we are done because of the tone of the exchange.
An example from this week would be Abigail. She posted some questions on her blog about the series we are in. You can read her questions and my response here: For we walk by faith, not by sight. What I love about Abigail is her attitude. She has serious questions and is rather bold in her opinions, and yet she never lost a tone of respect and humility. In fact, she sent me a note to let me know she was asking these questions on her site. That shows serious character!
I love answering Bereans.
Encouragers
These are quick little notes encouraging me regarding the service. I get a few of these every week. Someone was touched by something I shared and wanted me to know. Often, it was a quick aside I made or an “aha” moment they had in their walk with Jesus. When I get these notes, I am always blown away that God is using me. He is obviously a great God if he can use me through all of my failings.
I love reading notes from Encouragers.
Cowards
This is the category that keeps me from checking my email until Mondays. They find something nit picky they don’t like in me or my delivery or my message. Perhaps it’s a word I used that they don’t like, or an illustration they thought was inappropriate, or maybe they see an area that I perceive to be gray as black and white. Whatever their message, their tone is cowardly. They could easily be in the top category (Bereans), but instead they attack. Often, they must drive home at breakneck speed home to shoot me email. I am so amazed at how fast these notes go out.
Here are some of the Coward’s favorite strategies:
1) Anonymous notes. I got one last week. This person didn’t talk with me directly, nor did they send me a note directly. They wrote a letter “to the church,” and mailed it without signing it. I read it, thought about it, and then threw it away. It carries zero weight. It was a gray area they had issue with. But they were too cowardly to have a conversation with me, so we will never be able to talk about it. It’s a shame. I think we could have learned something from each other.
2) Hateful email. These are attacking / offensive notes where people email what they would never have the guts to say to my face. And, quite frankly, it’s probably good that they don’t. Often it is something disparaging my character or my faith. I usually respond politely once and if their tone does not change, I ignore any more notes I get from them.
3) Gossip. This is where people don’t talk directly to my face, but tell other people who then contact me to tell me “their friend is upset.” My response is always the same, “What did they say to you when you reproved them for gossiping and asked them to talk directly to me?” I know a lot of things people have said about me that they don’t even know I know. But I’m not going to bring it up.
4) Symbolic Gestures. This one is new as of this week. I taught on money this weekend and someone ripped up a check into tiny pieces and threw it in the offering basket. Very mature.
I ignore Cowards.
The thing about everyone in the Coward category, is that they could so easily be in the Berean category. It’s all about tone and respect.
Why am I posting all of this? To complain? To get crap off my chest?
No.
My hope is that everyone who reads this, no matter what church they go to, will think about how they communicate with their pastors. Please, be Bereans. Dig in the Word. If you have a concern, bring it directly to the pastor. Don’t gossip, don’t be hateful, don’t be a coward; and by all means, be respectful. I have made good friends with people who started out as dissenters. Some of my biggest supporters started out as critics. Now, we will both defend each other to the death. We may still disagree, but we love each other. That’s Christian Unity.
Technorati Tags: christians, churchleadership, cynicism
Jack Bauer Torture Report » 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Feb 22, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Reproved
//ITUNES: Four-Fingered Fisherman from the album “Sad Sappy Sucker” by Modest Mouse
OK, I screwed up on the last Jack Bauer Torture Report » 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm. I missed 3 kills, but it has now been updated. Just thought you’d want to know.
Tenacious Kids
Feb 21, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Swell
//ITUNES: If She Only Knew by Michelle Branch
So this guy Steve has the most amazing video of his kids singing Tenacious D. The Shiny Demon is the best. Check it out here.
Democracy is Safe
Feb 17, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Presidential
//ITUNES: Could I’ve Been from the album “Superkala” by Course Of Nature
Thanks to Alicia for the link.
Technorati Tags: orderofsuccession, president
Apple Store
Feb 17, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Average
//ITUNES: Your Body Is A Wonderland from the album “Room for Squares” by John Mayer
Thanks to Carol who sent me this cool picture from the Apple Store in Chicago. Click on it for a bigger version. Apparently Carol didn’t get told to put her camera away like Sean and I did in Minneapolis. Arg.
Technorati Tags: apple
iPhone
Feb 16, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Chill
//MEDICAL CONDITION: Stomach Ache
From TechEBlog
Technorati Tags: iphone
Don’t Waste Your Cancer
Feb 16, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Goodish
//ITUNES: Sickly from the album “Sin” by Poor Old Lu
Just read an amazing article by John Piper called Don’t Waste Your Cancer. He lays out 10 ways you can waste what God may be trying to teach you if you have cancer. I am only going to post his intro and his ten points. If you want to read his explanation of the ten points, read the entire article. It’s worth it.
I write this on the eve of prostate surgery. I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.
1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.
2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.
3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.
4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.
5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.
6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.
7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.
9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.
10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.
Technorati Tags: cancer
210
Feb 16, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Relieved
//ITUNES: The Nocturnal House from the album “Elan Vital” by Pretty Girls Make Graves
I just responded to 210 email messages. Feels good to have the inbox empty.
Quote of the Day
Feb 16, 2006 Quotes
//MOOD: Good
//ITUNES: Not Coming Home from the album “Songs About Jane” by Maroon 5
From CNN.com
“I am the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. That is something I will never forget.”
-Vice President Dick Cheney
Picture from Monkeys For Helping
Quote of the Day
Feb 15, 2006 Quotes
//MOOD: Challenged
//PODCAST: Coverville-060214-The Valentine’s Day Cover Massacre by Brian Ibbott
From Monday Morning Insight Weblog:
“When did Christianity cease being dangerous? That’s when it ceased being Christianity.”
-Tony Campolo
Jack vs. Chuck
Feb 15, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Waking Up
//NOISE: Boys transforming
Tina has raised perhaps the most philosophically challenging question of all time.
In a fight between Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris, who would win?
What do you think? Fill out this poll with your answer and then post a comment justifying your position.
Technorati Tags: 24, chucknorris, jackbauer
Sorry
Feb 14, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Average
//DIRECT TV: NCIS
I have been swamped swamped swamped. Lots of stuff happening. I will try to post some more later this week. This is one of those times that is stress filled, but good…kinda. I have a podcast I have been wanting to do, as well. Thanks for your patience.
Oh, BTW, Dan nailed it here:
Then Saturday night the six o’clock service was one of the worst services I think we’ve ever had. Nothing flowed well, we made mistakes. Everything was awkward. I wanted to leave. I thought about how great it would be to work for UPS or Fed Ex or be a farmer or something other than a mistake riddled worship leader. But I guess God’s teaching me something. I’ll let you know when I find out. The next service went a little better, but things still weren’t clicking quite right.
And it wasn’t just his part. Everything sucked. My part, his part, everything else. It was horrendous. We called a “mulligan” on that one. I also resonated with his thought here:
I know God is working at Riverview. People’s lives are changing. People are becoming more selfless. People are getting to know God. I just felt like I was getting in the way and I couldn’t help it. It felt like there was nothing I could really do. It was weird, because most weekends I love everything I’m doing. I love being a part of something greater than myself. I love knowing that I’m pretty weak, untrained and vulnerable, but God is using me anyway. But this weekend, I felt like everything was set up to go right, I just had to be there and do it. But things just weren’t right. This could have something to do with letting God work instead of myself, but I don’t know.
Good thing God reminds us from time to time that it is about him, not us.
Jack Bauer Torture Report
Feb 13, 2006 Uncategorized
//MOOD: Very Tired
//NOISE: Dishwasher
Well, Jack makes it into the double digits and performs a miracle. Read more on the Torture Report:
