Che Guevara’s hair sold at auction
Jan 17, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
(via BBC NEWS)
Strands of hair said to have been taken from the corpse of Ernesto Che Guevara by a former CIA operative have sold for $119,000
Anyone else see the big huge irony to this?
Back from Vacation
Jan 11, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
After this last weekend at Riverview, I seriously needed some downtime. Luckily, we had our vacation Christmas (on my wife’s side) scheduled for the week in Chicago. We just rolled back into town last night and I thought I’d share a few pictures with you:
We visited an amazing Korean buffet that had this sign over the plates:
Oddly enough, this sign was on the wall behind the other sign:
So which is it? While eating, Ethan was wearing his hat like this. Remind you of anyone?
Coley got a new guitar and would spend long periods just sitting by himself, jamming,
We went ice skating. Here’s Emma and I:
Blades of Glory:
Training a young Stranz Van Waldenberg:
Oh, I forgot to mention the other boys got guitars, too.
Quote of the Day
Jan 11, 2008 Quotes
Via Best Week Ever:
Paula Abdul is reportedly “in talks” to perform at the Super Bowl next month. Fingers crossed, because a crazy lady on pills running around the 50 yard-line and crying while “Opposites Attract” plays on a loudspeaker would undoubtedly be the awesomest halftime show ever.
The Healing Power of Coffee
Jan 9, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
We go through a lot of coffee at Riv. And I mean a lot! My friend Steve calls us “the most caffeinated church in America.”
But did you know that our addiction to coffee actually saves? Check out this email I got recently:
I became a Christian at Riverview in early 2004, after being agnostic for a long time. At the time, I joked with my friends that it was the coffee that won me over, and I guess to some extent, that’s true. I think it was more the fact that the coffee caused me to re-evaluate my perception of church, because hitherto I had thought of churches as being extremely serious and austere and impersonal, and I guess I thought God was the same way. But anyway, after a few months of attending Riverview, I had my own personal crisis when the academic plan I had relied on for three years fell through. It was the first time my own effort wasn’t good enough to get me what I wanted, and I realized that I didn’t have a plan. At that moment, walking back to my dorm from class, I gave my life to God.
Now, several years later, I’ve graduated, gotten married, and moved to Ohio. My husband and I still listen to the Riverview messages online. We are also active in our little church here, especially with the youth group. Most of our youth aren’t church kids; in fact, they come from some pretty dysfunctional and abusive families. After the church bought the skating rink next door, most of the kids just wandered in off the street because they heard we had free skating, and they found something they weren’t getting from their messed up families or their friends at school. Now most of them show up every Sunday, and a lot of them have tried to drag their parents and siblings, with mixed results. So I guess you can say that you made a sacrificial follower who went, and I am trying to carry on that legacy with our youth.
This is the kind of story that keeps me going day in and day out! That and coffee.
History Lesson from Michael Cera
Jan 8, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
I hate to admit it, but I think a lot more history would be learned in our classrooms if we taught it more like this. Too bad it’s not entirely accurate.
Thanks to Monkeys For Helping:
Exposed
Jan 6, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Holy cow.
This weekend we launched our new series at Riverview. We’re calling it Exposed and we’re examining how both culture and religion have it wrong when it comes to our sexuality. This message is a direct result of our PostSecret series, where we learned that the single largest issue facing the people in our church is our sex lives.
Honestly…this is the first time I am teaching a series I initially didn’t want to teach. Not that I wanted to avoid it or anything–it’s just that I had a whole lot of other ideas. Every time I started working on them, I couldn’t get any traction and I found myself being drawn back to this topic. I really feel like this is what we need to go through at this time.
And after the first weekend, I can tell we were right. I have never been so physically and emotionally drained after a weekend at Riverview. Literally every minute between and after each service was filled with people sharing their stories, arguments, objections, and the like. In fact, I got done talking with someone literally 5 seconds (I’m not exaggerating) before I had to walk on the stage for the 11:30ish service.
Nate captured the brilliant set he and Kristie put together for the series over on his blog. Make sure you check it out. Here’s one of the pictures he took:
Over at WalkTheRazor.com, I am dedicating the month of January to the topic of sex to go along with this series. So, if you haven’t checked out that site yet, now is the time to do so. That will be a place we can discuss this series in more depth in between the weekend services and hopefully I’ll slap up a few new podcasts as well.
Alright, I seriously need a nap.
Don’t Tase Me Bro
Jan 5, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
This is a brilliant 2007 Viral Mashup (thanks, MarkO):
Human Tetris
Jan 4, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
OK, this is freakin’ brilliant. (If you go to their site you can see other games like Pong, Space Invaders, and Pole Position).
Wii Got One
Jan 3, 2008 Uncategorized Hodge Podge
Well, we finally broke down and got the kids a Wii for Christmas this year. It’s fun to have a gaming system we can all get into…even Coley:
