Link Love
May 25, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Getting Somewhere
.:itunes:. Little of Your Time by Maroon 5
If there is one thing I have heard over and over about my blog it is this:
Too many links in the blogroll!
My blogroll has grown to such crazy lengths because of several things:
1. I read a lot of blogs
2. I skim a lot of blogs
3. I have a lot of friends with blogs
4. I meet a lot of people with blogs
5. There are a lot of people at Riverview with blogs
6. I like to share what I am reading with others
Because of all of this, I am implementing a new blogroll strategy. On the sidebar, I am going to include a few blogs that fall into a tight filter:
1. Daily Reads
2. Daily Skims
I will slap this up in the next day or two and update it from time to time. This will not include a lot of my friend’s personal blogs because although I read them on a regular basis, most people don’t click on their links from my site. I still have a blogreader that I read them in.
I am also implementing two new features to my blog (we’ll see how long I keep up with them).
1. A comprehensive blogroll (including friends) on it’s own separate page. You can click here to view that blogroll. I also have a link to this on my sidebar.
2. A weekly review of a blog that I think everyone should check out. This was a common request on my last roll call, so I thought it would be worth a shot. I’ll start that in a few days, too, and I’ll link to a list of these featured blogs soon thereafter.
Let me know what you think of this new strategy or if you think I should tweak it in some way. Mostly, the inter-phase of this blog is for those who read it, not me, so I want to make sure I serve y’all well.
Comments on the Law
May 24, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Very very tired
.:itunes:. How Many Times by Zack Hexum
So I have received a whole bunch of questions about the law since I launched the new series last weekend. I was going to answer some of the questions here on my blog but then I realized that most of the questions will be answered during the course of the series.
If you emailed me a question, just hang on! The answer is coming!
Back to the grind…
Oh, did you notice the “Top Commenter” feature in the right column? That’s right! Instant gratification if you comment a lot on my blog! I am working on more blog tweaks today…
Impressions
May 24, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Laughing
.:itunes:. Heaven by Live
OK…this guy does some pretty amazing impressions…
And of course Frank Calliendo is always good…
The Law
May 23, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Free
.:itunes:. Listen Up! by The Gossip
This past weekend, I launched a new series at Riverview called “Mosaic.” This series will be taking a quick look at “interpreting the Law normally.” I basically went through principles of how the Mosaic Law applies to New Testament believers. Soon, I hope to convert the message into a paper, so I’ll let you know when I do. Until then, you can download the message here or watch it here:
The reaction has been pretty cool. A lot of people talked with me over the weekend and several have sent me very good questions. Depending on my schedule this week, I am going to try to answer some of the questions here on my blog.
We also have over 450 people signed up to get Mess...@Eriv.net which is a list of discussion questions people can use for additional study throughout the week. If you would like to sign up to get these notes each week, you can click here.
Here are the study questions for this week:
In what ways have you tried to live an if / then faith?
Are there certain areas where you are trying to perform to make God love you more?
Are there certain areas where you feel like you are letting God down?
Read Romans 8:1
Since there is “now no condemnation” for you if you follow Jesus, what do you think he would say to you in these areas?
Take a few minutes to read through these passages and write down any specific things that strike you regarding your relationship to the Mosaic Law:
Galatians 3:10-13
Romans 7:4-6
Ephesians 2:14-15
2 Corinthians 3:4-11
Matthew 5:17-20
Luke 24:44-48
Galatians 3:19
Romans 8:1-4
Living in BI for now
May 23, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Inspired
.:itunes:. Arms of an Angel by Sarah McLachlan
(via Gizmodo)
“Much like the Western calendar marks time from before and after Jesus Christ, and how the computer world changed totally by the Macintosh—remembering that Windows is Microsoft’s copy of the Mac operating system—I am certain that the mobile telecoms world will count its time in two Eras. The Era BI: time Before the iPhone, and the ERA AI: time After the iPhone.”
-Tomi T Ahonen
Clean your room!
May 22, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
(via Reuters)
I have bolded my favorite part.
BERLIN (Reuters) – A nine-year-old German girl was so upset about having to tidy her room she put up a sign in her window urging passers-by to call police for help.
Pedestrians in the central city of Braunschweig saw the girl crying in the window, holding up a sign up saying “Help! Please call the police!” Next to her sat a small boy. Quickly alerted, officers rushed to the scene to discover the girl had argued with her mother about tidying her room and enlisted her two-year-old brother’s aid to attract attention.
“The room looked like a battlefield,” said a spokesman for local police on Monday. “Officers told the girl to tidy her room. When they came back two hours later to check, it was all cleaned up. And the mother and daughter had made up too.”
That’s public service.
05-20-07_1516.jpg
May 20, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
The sign before this one said
“Right two lanes closed”
Problem is there are only two lanes.
RiverBrew 2
May 19, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Proud
.:itunes:. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine by The Killers
I mentioned last week that Riverview was launching a new ministry called RiverBrew. And yes, “brew” is beer, not coffee. It’s an easy mistake to make if you know our church (Steve Fee once called us “the most caffeinated church in America.”)
Since this group is officially launching this weekend, I wanted to make a few observations. First, a promotional video they put together:
Basically, this ministry will teach people how to home brew their own beer. Here, again, are their objectives:
* To worship God through appreciation of his creation
* To build community and friendships through a common bond
* To model and exhort enjoyment in moderation of God’s gifts; quality over quantity
* To break down misconceptions about the Biblical view of alcohol
* To resume the Church’s historical role as making the finest beer in town
Here are some reasons I am glad this ministry is launching:
It is an example of young men taking a risk for the Gospel.
The guys who are starting this ministry are not doing so solely because they like beer (which they do). They’re also not doing it to buck the system (which it will). They are doing it because they have seen the increased popularity in home brewing and see the Gospel opportunity it provides. They will be able to reach people that are currently untouched with the Gospel.
I am sure they will receive criticism for their risk, and I am sure they will be gracious in the face of this criticism. It is a big risk and I am praying it will pay off huge with eternal rewards.
It is innovative.
This very well may be the first of its kind (at least in modern American history). It is certainly the first time I have ever heard of a ministry like this. I love innovation and I will try anything moral once. As Mark Batterson has often said, “everything is an experiment.”
If this goes well, awesome.
If it goes poorly, awesome.
It provides what our Secular Culture needs right now.
There is a time and place when the best thing a Christian can do is to abstain from alcohol for the sake of the Gospel. I believe that time is over in our culture.
American Christians are now known much more for what we are against than what we are for. That must change.
We, as a culture, are very well versed in the dangers of alcoholism, drunk driving, and the like. What we desperately need in America right now is examples of moderation. That’s why I love the tagline of this ministry: “Quality over Quantity.” Or as Jeremy Mason has said, “Drink less beer…drink better beer.” Amen and amen.
It provides what our Christian Culture needs right now.
American Christians need to remember that historical Christianity has not had a problem with moderate alcohol consumption. Only over the last century or so have we become a “dry” faith. The Bible, while clearly warning about the dangers of drunkenness, calls wine a blessing from God.
We also have to be careful to think that we can be “holier than Jesus.” Saying that abstaining from alcohol is more moral than moderate consumption is ranking ourselves above Jesus who drank wine. That is not wise.
I want to close with a quote from an essay written by Jeremy Mason for the RiverBrew page on our church’s website:
The history of the church has been deeply rooted in the responsible enjoyment of beer and alcohol. Beer has never been the focus, just one of many great joys along the way. Brewing has been a thing of beauty, always focused on the joy that a good brew can bring. It seems that many theologians have been accompanied by a good beer as they have set forth to fight the good fight of truth and faith. If history is any indication of the future, I expect the church will continue in its unabashed appreciation of God’s great nectar. In this pursuit, there will always be someone in town who is brewing the best beer, why not make it the church?
アップル – Macをはじめよう
May 18, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Great
.:itunes:. Who Needs Sleep? by Barenaked Ladies
The Apple ads are great, even in Japanese (via アップル – Macをはじめよう)
The Mashup is even great:
OK, while watching these, I found an interview with John Hodgman. He is a comedic genius:
Sarah
May 17, 2007 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
.:mood:. Not quite sure
.:itunes:. Have You Ever by Incubus
I must admit my first reaction to this photo of a 103 year old woman and her great great great granddaughter (courtesy of BWE) was Sarah and Isaac.
Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. “How could I become a father at the age of 100?” he thought. “And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?”
Let that sink in. By the time Sarah had her baby, she was a hundred years old. This would be like the hospital picture of Sarah and Isaac.
