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On the Anniversary

2009-09-11T06:37:00.001-07:00

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in

Prayer of the Week

2009-09-08T06:52:00.000-07:00

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Prayer for the Week

2009-09-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in my heart the love of your Name; increase in me true religion; nourish me with all goodness; and bring forth in me the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

The Church will be led by China

2009-08-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

China's place in the Christian movement has not been the propagation of Christendom and Western hegemony, as nearly everyone now agrees - in reality, Christendom has long been a historical anachronism. As Huo Shui, a former government political analyst observes, the Christian idea of love has introduced a new value system in China, including the idea of repentance "which is lacking in Chinese

Prayer for Mission

2009-08-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

For Mission Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.From the daily office of The Book of Common Prayer, 1979.

Identity, club-culture, and the Gospel

2009-08-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

"As identities can be picked up from a variety of media sources, the construction of 'who we are' arises increasingly from how we imagine ourselves, rather than from where we live."- Ian Condry, "Japanese Hip-Hop and the Globalization of Popular Culture" in Urban Life: Readings in the Anthropology of the City, 384.And, at the same time, as Condry points out, there are places where imagined

Prayer for the Week

2009-08-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of this redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. missionary Part of Speech: noun Definition: aide Synonyms: Holy Joe,

Jesus, the Apostle

2008-04-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!" Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled

Ecclesiastes for the Day

2008-04-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

What do workers gain from their toil?I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find

Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies

2008-03-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Like seed I am buried in the grounddead and unknown,covered over in Friday,soaked through with Sunday,that in my dying,our dying,there might be living,his living.I go to the field called "Mission"bought with the blood of a lamb,I go with my deed labeled "Cross"with good-news seed in hand,I go to plant a gardenI go to grow a cityI go to harvest new realityI go to to till new land.Salvation, spring

Becoming "Unbusy"

2008-03-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the month I was reading a book by Eugene Peterson (author of The Message paraphrase of the Bible) called The Contemplative Pastor. In it Peterson talks about the need to clarify the role of a pastor with three adjectives: unbusy, subversive, and apocalyptic. Peterson takes much of the rest of the book to unpack those adjectives, so I won’t attempt that for you, but I will

Patience

2008-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Two quotes on patience that a friend of mine shared with me:“God never hurries. There are no deadlines againstwhich He must work. Only to know this is to quiet ourspirits and relax our nerves.” A.W. Tozer“The strength of patience hangs on our capacity tobelieve that God is up to something good for us in allour delays and detours.” John PiperThis is seriously needed, especially in my line of

Confessions #14: T-shirts

2008-01-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

01.12.08After a long break for Christmas and New Years, I return, with nothing much significant to say, as you'll see."With what end in view do you again and again walk along difficult and laborious paths? There is no rest where you seek for it. Seek for what you seek, but it is not where you are looking for it.You seek the happy life in the region of death; it is not there.How can there be a

Advent Prayer

2007-12-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.-from The Book of Common Prayer

Confessions #13: Sand and Love

2007-12-21T12:34:00.000-08:00

"If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him. If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him...so seize what souls you can to take with you to him, and say to them: 'Him we love; he made these things and is not far

Confessions #12: Magneto

2007-12-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

One of Augustine's stumbling blocks to Christianity and the Bible in particular initially was his aversion to the stories of the Old Testament where he often found those reputed to be "righteous" to do some seemingly very "unrighteous" things. He, like the Manichees with whom he spent many years in fellowship, was disgusted by the polygamy of the patriarchs, the character of those like Moses and

Communities of the Kingdom

2007-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

N. T. Wright on the Gospel and Empire (read: "the man") in today's world: Somehow, the gospel of Jesus has to be announced as the good news over against all the self-serving power-broking of our day. This won’t be easy. But the start for us, as it was for Paul, is without a doubt the creation of communities, cells of people under Caesar’s nose but loyal to Jesus as Lord and committed to living

Faith Bubbles Up

2007-12-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

N. T. Wright on Paul's preaching:God’s word, that is, the message about Jesus as the climax of God’s saving plan, the unfolding of God’s future putting-to-rights of all things, is announced. Foolish and scandalous though it is, when you tell this story, the story of the great eschatological apocalypse that has taken place in Jesus, God’s spirit goes to work in a new apocalyptic event, itself part

Confessions #11: The Real World

2007-12-02T20:55:00.001-08:00

As a young guy in Carthage, Augustine was "captivated by theatrical shows". He loved them because he identified with them; their performances moved him; he craved to feel response to suffering on stage without having to suffer it himself. Looking back, it seemed strange to Augustine, foolish and grotesque even, that he and others would find pleasure in the pain induced by the sufferings on

Confessions #10: the love of love, part 2

2007-11-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

So, it occurred to me after writing the last Confessions post, that there might me something more to say about Augustine's comment that he "rushed headlong into love, by which I was longing to be captured." That seemed to capture the attitude toward romance and relationships that prevail in the social consciousness of the day, and my own as well. Under the auspices of the supposed proverb, "

A Prayer for Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Prayer of Thanksgiving by Walter Rauschenbusch O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; For the wide sky and the blessed sun, For the salt sea and the running water, For the everlasting hills And the never-resting winds, For trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses By which we

Confessions #9: the love of love

2007-11-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Having now traveled a few days into the Thanksgiving holidays, my little writing project has been set aside for other things that have been more immanent, namely our regional staff retreat with Campus Crusade for Christ staff and the normal catching up with the family. So, I may only have a couple of entries this week, but I hope they will overcome their poverty of quantity with a wealth of

Transmission of the Bible: not like the telephone game

2007-11-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

Dan Wallace, from Dallas Theological Seminary on the nature of textual variants in the New Testament (i.e. places where the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament differ from each other). If you've ever been told that the Scriptures have been corrupted by copying and then have come to find out that there are in fact differences in many of the Greek copies of the New Testament that we have, then

Confessions #8: the gift of worship

2007-11-14T22:04:00.000-08:00

"Therefore he who made me is good, and he is my good, and I exult to him, for all the good things that I was even as a boy. My sin consisted in this, that I sought pleasure, sublimity, and truth not in God but in his creatures, in myself and other created beings. So it was that I plunged into miseries, confusions, and errors. My God, I give thanks to you, my source of sweet delight, and my

Confessions #7: In the image

2007-11-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

"In you are the constant causes of inconstant things. All mutable things have in you their immutable origins. In you all irrational and temporal things have the everlasting causes of their life."- Augustine"God has instituted prayer so as to confer upon his creatures the dignity of being causes."- Blaise Pascal

Blog reading level

2007-11-13T11:52:00.000-08:00

Not the highest, but I'm satisfied... :)What's yours?

"authentic Christian mission"

2007-11-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

“Historically the church has indeed seen its mission in these broad terms. It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life–in every

Confessions #6: Woe to the Silent

2007-11-12T21:56:00.000-08:00

"But in these words what have I said, my God, my life, my holy sweetness? What has anyone achieved in words when he speaks about you? Yet woe to those who are silent about you because, though loquacious with verbosity, whey have nothing to say."In the notes, Chadwick observes that in the Confessions "the loquacious" are usually "either pagan philosophical critics rejecting the Christian

Peterson on living in reality

2007-11-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

Every call to worship is a call into the Real World.…I encounter such constant and widespread lying about reality each day and meet with such skilled and systematic distortion of the truth that I’m always in danger of losing my grip on reality. The reality, of course, is that God is sovereign and Christ is savior. The reality is that prayer is my mother tongue and the eucharist my basic food. The

Confessions #5: Heart-rest

2007-11-09T06:28:00.001-08:00

"You are great, Lord, and highly to be praised," begins the first paragraph of Augustine's Confessions. Although humankind bears "'his mortality with him', carrying with him the witness of his sin and the witness that you 'resist the proud'...Nevertheless," Augustine prays, "to praise you is the desire of man, a little piece of your creation. You stir man to take pleasure in praising you,

Confessions #4

2007-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

So the final comment on what is written in the the introduction (I must get on to the book itself!) will be in relation to this quote:"In Augustine's time there were a few educated people for whom all religion was superstition; but the dominant consensus held to belief in divine providence, visible in the mathematical order and coherence of the world, and given special manifestations to

Confessions #3

2007-11-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

In discussing the events leading up to Augustine's conversion, Chadwick notes in the introduction that Augustine's move to Milan from North Africa coincided with a growing intellectual crisis in which his "lost belief in Mani (the leader of a gnostic religious group) was replaced by a skepticism about the possibility of any certainty. He devoured the writings of skeptical philosophers of the

the 700+1 Club

2007-11-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Pat Robertson endorses Giuliani for president. Either the situation is desperate or the 700 Club has decided to broaden its membership. I guess you could see this a sign of hope for those on the far right that they will look at the big picture a bit more, or a sign of defeat and compromise. It will be interesting to see how this affects things.

Confessions #2

2007-11-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

Still in the introduction, the second thing that caught my attention was Chadwick's discussion of Augustine's first exposure to the Bible. Augustine was first led to pick up the Bible after reading Cicero's Hortensius in which Cicero taught that "happiness is not found in physical pleasures of luxurious food, drink, and sex, but in a dedication of the mind to the discovery of truth." Prompted

Confessions Writing Project #1

2007-11-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

I'm going to attempt to summarize and highlight my experience of reading through Augustine's Confessions as writing project to build my writing skills and develop my reading and retention skills...and of course to talk about Augustine's Confessions. It goes without saying that I won't be saying much compared to everyone else who's responded to Augustine over the past 1600 years, but, no matter,

JESUS and CHANGE

2007-10-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

Mars Hill Church's 10th anniversary video. (This year is now their 11th year, and the two things they say have remained constant are JESUS and CHANGE.)God, would you continueand increase this same work oftransforming livesby the Gospel of Jesusin cities all over Americaand beyond.Make us true disciples and disciple-makers,for your gloryand for the good of the world around us.

Orthodox and Born Again

2007-10-08T14:49:00.001-07:00

Dr. Brad Nasiff of North Park University and an Orthodox theologian reflects on what has kept him believing in Christ after years and years of scholarship and life. His answer may surprise you!http://audio.ancientfaith.com/nassif/so5_pc.mp3

Great Light of the World Come to Impart (old and new)

2007-10-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

I make the cross of Christ upon my breast, over the tablet of my hard heart, and I beseech the Living God of the universe - may the Light of Lights come to my dark heart from Thy place; may the Spirit's wisdom come to my heart's tablet from my Saviour. -From the Aidan compline, who lived in the early 7th century in Ireland. Sometimes at nightI

The Two Tasks

2007-10-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

"...Responsible Christians face two tasks-that of saving the soul and that of saving the mind. No civilization can endure with its mind being as confused and disordered as ours is today. All our ills stem proximately from the false philosophies that have been let loose in the world and that are now being

With M. Teresa in view...

2007-09-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

You must have often wondered why the enemy [God] does not make more use of his power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree he chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the irresistible and the indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of his scheme forbids him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as his felt presence in any but the faintest and most

Who can tell?

2007-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Morning Prayer from The Book of Common Prayer Sunday, 2 September 2007The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity AllAlmighty and most merciful Father, we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and

Today's Morning Reading

2007-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

From today's morning reading of the Book of Common Prayer:from the OT reading, Habakkuk 3:2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.from Te Deum Laudamus O Lord, save thy people and bless thine heritage.

Nooma:thoughts

2007-08-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Until today I had only seen one of Rob Bell's Nooma films. At the time, for various reasons, one of which was pride, I didn't fully appreciate it (sorry to the friend that showed it to me!). I read Velvet Elvis several months ago and bought six of the Nooma films this summer in order to jump in once more. I just watched two of them and wrote down a few thoughts I had in response. Overall, I

New Every Morning

2007-07-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Today I was afraid. I was afraid of being insignificant.Today I was proud. I wanted honor and success and notoriety.Today I was ashamed. I did not size up, and I was sizing up.Today was like yesterday. And the day before, and the day before...Will tomorrow be like today?... but today's trouble is overwhelming enough.The sun dies,The sun rises,each dayDoes it die under the weight of our

A Poem and Prayer

2007-07-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

Jesus,bread and light of life,I am not but you are in me I am in You alive."But we, O Lord, behold we are Thy little flock; possess us as Thine, stretch Thy wings over us and let us fly under them. Be Thou our glory." - St. Augustine

long time, no blog, good link

2007-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything in a while, and to commemorate that I will continue not writing anything and just post a link to something someone else wrote. Shame on me...Here's Scot McKnight answering a question that I specifically begin asking in earnest last summer but have asked in many other ways since college. He gives some great advice, not necessarily solutions, but a good way forward in

Links and excerpts

2007-04-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Jurgen Moltmann on our conception of God and ourselves:Without a revolution in the concept of God, however, there will be no revolutionary faith. Without God's liberation from idolatrous images produced by anxiety and hubris, there will be no liberating theology. Man always unfolds his humanity in relation to the divinity of his God, and he experiences himself in relationship to what

A Poetic Prayer from Down Under

2007-04-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

God of Eternity, Lord of the Ages,Father and Spirit and Saviour of men!Thine is the glory of time’s numbered pages;Thine is the power to revive us again.Pardon our sinfulness, God of all pity,Call to remembrance Thy mercies of old;Strengthen Thy Church to abide as a citySet on a hill for a light to Thy fold.Head of the Church on earth, risen, ascended!Thine is the honour that dwells in this place

On Institutions, Western Culture, and Spirituality

2007-04-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

Speaking about lay movements in the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Benedict's addressing of the spiritual state of Western Europe, Russell Shorto of the New York Times said in his article, "Keeping the Faith",According to many observers, the lay movements substantially accounted for the unimagined numbers of mourners who poured into Rome. Data on declining church attendance obscure the fact that

The Shadow of Good Friday

2007-04-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

To reflect and to pray."But what Christ did on the Cross was in no way intended to spare us death but rather to revalue death completely. In place of the 'going down into the pit' of the Old Testament, it became 'being in paradise tomorrow'. Instead of fearing death as the final evil and begging God for a few more years of life, as the weeping king Hezekiah does, Paul would like most of all to

Training and Tradition

2007-04-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on training for Christian ministry. Where I work we talk about it a lot, so I thought, why not a little more? It's natural for us as humans to find that the things that we have systematized and refined for the purposes of understanding and transferability have lost their edge and clarity of vision. So, it's helpful and necessary to rethink old concepts reconstituted in new

in Christ

2007-03-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

The Hidden Smile of God

2007-03-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

Light shining out of Darkness (Book III, Hymn 15, page 571)by William Cowper(taken from ReformationINK) God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sov'reign will.

Power of Percentages

2007-03-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

"If Christians had given a 10 percent tithe to their churches in 2004, instead of the actual 2.56 percent, there would have been an extra $164 billion. And of churches spend $70 to $80 billion of that on missions and humanitarian works, the basic needs of every person on the globe would be provided." - Relevant, Nov./Dec. 2006, p. 30"Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world

The Breadth of Incarnation

2007-02-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

"...people are more interested in seeing Christians actually live in a way the reflects what they believe instead of an hollow invitation to come to a church service where you can meet God."-Chris Burton on the changing scene of church in AmericaExactly. It's not only non-Christians who feel that the invitation is hollow...Our breadth of incarnation has been insufficient. Meeting with God

Light and Heat for the Path

2007-02-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

This is from a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Kevin Vanhoozer, from the beginning of an essay in the March 2005, edition of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society entitled "Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, And Hermeneutics". I'm looking forward to the rest of the article, but I thought this first part was too good not to share! (italics mine)There has

Truth, Knowledge and Communication

2007-02-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts on some quotes from Faith Thinking, by Trevor Hart, pp. 92-95. Although the "ideal of truth as absolute certainty, knowledge as a subjugation of reality by the mind, and true statements as a direct and exhaustive mirroring of reality in propositional form" is an ideal which cannot be attained, "least of all where God is concerned, ...knowledge does not need to be absolutely

ugh...this one is hard

2007-02-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a Bible quiz that Alastair Roberts created after he conquered all the others. It's quite challenging. How do you fair?You rank 53% on the biblical comprehension scale. Good work. You obviously know your Bible well. However, there remains plenty of room for improvement. Close attention to the details of Scripture can result in great rewards over time. Perhaps a more focused Bible study

"The Bible says it, and that settles it!"

2007-02-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

So my friend and I were talking about the meaning and nature of language over a bowl of red curry today, and I said something to the effect of, "It makes me nervous sometimes when I hear people pick up their Bible, read a short story or a couple of verses, and matter-of-factly say 'The Bible says ____, and that settles it.' We're so far away from the cultural context of the New Testament at the

Jesus loves porn stars, just in case you were inclined to think otherwise...

2007-02-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Several friends of mine have been telling me about these guys who go to porn conventions and tell people that "Jesus loves porn stars." So, when I saw that they would be on ABC Nightline with Martin Bashir, I put down the remote paid attention for a few minutes.Basically, XXXChurch.com started as a web resource for Christians struggling with pornography, but changed courses a bit when the

some words on The Word

2007-01-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from the Edwardian Homilies of the English Reformation as issued by Edward VI of England and composed by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1547. Cranmer was martyred 9 years later after the Pope regained control of England.Taken from Creeds of the Churches, edited by John Leith, gifted to me by my friend Kat as bathroom reading material... :)A Fruitful Exhoration to the

2+2=Jesus

2007-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

I'm working it out.I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm working it out.You see, some things are really hot right now. Social justice, redemptive history, church-planting movements, the "kingdom". It's not a time for specialists; there's too much to think about, to do. It's not a time for generalists either, one wouldn't even know where to begin.People keep telling me that it's all about Jesus

it came upon a midnight clear

2006-12-25T14:21:00.000-08:00

Emperors and Angels Isaiah 9.2–7; Luke 2.1–20 a sermon at the Midnight Eucharist, Christmas Eve 2006 by the Bishop of Durham, Dr N. T. WrightThe following is from the Christmas hymn, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", but with a few of the lines changed a bit in order to more accurately represent the heart of the prophets and the meaning of Christmas, which, as Bishop Tom Wright said this is

A song and a Prayer

2006-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

You are so high among the highest, and I am low among the lowest, a mean thing. You never go away from us. Yet we have difficulty in returning to you. Come Lord, stir us up and call us back, kindle and seize us, be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love, let us run (to you).-St. AugustineSince from His bounty I receive Such proofs of love divine Had I a thousand

who are you?

2006-12-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

You scored as Karl Barth. The daddy of 20th Century theology. You perceive liberal theology to be a disaster and so you insist that the revelation of Christ, not human experience, should be the starting point for all theology.Karl Barth80%Anselm67%John Calvin67%Jürgen Moltmann60%Jonathan Edwards60%Charles Finney53%Friedrich Schleiermacher47%Martin Luther40%Augustine27%Paul Tillich20%Which

so, what do you do?

2006-12-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

Here's an article from the New York Times about the brew-ha-ha that's going on with the American Episcopal church. With the ordination of the first openly gay priest a few years back, and the following installment of the first woman bishop of the entire Episcopal church in America, many of the more conservative churches and dioceses have felt jilted, and now they are leaving.Not too long ago,

don't just explain it...

2006-12-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

"Ironically, an estimated 90% of the world's Chirstian workers presenting the gospel use highly literate communication styles. They use the printed page or expositional, analytical and logical presentations of God's word. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for oral learners to hear and understand the message and communicate it to others.""Logical," "analytical," "presentation." Sound

a new effort

2006-12-06T23:38:00.000-08:00

I was saved from a Hindu family in 1995 through a cross-cultural missionary. I had a desire to learn more about the word of God and I shared this with the missionary. The missionary sent me to Bible College in 1996... I started sharing the good news in the way as I learnt in the Bible College.. To my surprise my people were not able to understand my message. A few people accepted the Lord

Goodwill Hunting

2006-11-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

I just saw the movie for the first time (I know I'm a little late on that), and yes, I am aware that it is "Good Will Hunting", but I'm sure they meant to say something in the title more than something about the character Will Hunting himself. Maybe they were saying something like Will was hunting for "goodwill", for someone who would truly love him and speak directly to him and not use him, or

So, what IS the professor thinking...?

2006-11-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

"A common perception of the college or university professor is that she or he is an atheist who rejects religion in favor of science or critical inquiry. "According to a "working paper" (posted on Scot McKnight's blog, JesusCreed) entitled "HOW RELIGIOUS ARE AMERICA’S COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS?", researchers Neil Gross (Harvard University) and Solon Simmons (George Mason University)

Oklahoma Catalytic Fall Retreat 2006: Sent Video

2006-10-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

A little slideshow video tour of the past year-ish of Oklahoma Catalytic students and staff sent throughout the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The audio is "Take to the World", written by Aaron Tate, sung by Derek Webb and Dan Haseltine, from Derek's album, "She Must and Shall Go Free."

para-church phase out response

2006-10-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is a response to this blog entry about a proposal to phase out the campus ministry of CCC. Neither the original blog nor my response are the opinions of CCC or the expression of anything bad or mean or disrespectful towards the past, present, or future of CCC. It's just some thoughts, theories, and desires for how things might be, hopefully in a way that is faithful to the heart of Jesus

agendas

2006-10-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my friend Chris the other day about conversations with people wherein we discover that what seems to be one reason for a certain line of questioning or behavior actually turns out to be another and how that can be rather offensive and manipulative. It seems that in those situations, the issue is not so much that the person had a secret agenda behind their questions and behavior,

Understanding Sin

2006-09-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

I was replying to a comment to a post on Fireseed Anthology, and well, it just got too long to be a comment-reply, so I'm putting on here. Heck, anything I can do to keep the blogging up is good, right?Hmm...yeah, there certainly is a problem with understanding sin, either the seriousness of it or it's existence altogether, depending on how much the person is a product of the current post-modern

story

2006-09-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

I am copying this over from something I wrote in reply to a friend's question: why do stories have the ability to awaken parts of our soul?I like stories. I think they're good, and here's why I think they might be important too.Hmm... good question. I have been intrigued by this question, and so the other day I rented and watched Tim Burton's Big Fish. It's all about the power of stories,

a trinity prayer

2006-09-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

The following prayer is from a book by Tom Wright entitled Bringing the Church to the World. Sometimes we neglect the simple, repeatable, foundational prayers because of a misunderstanding of the prohibition to not use "vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words." The issue was the vanity of their babbling, as some translations have it, not

Perspective

2006-07-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

(Partially copy 'n' pasted from my comment on Melinda Carter's blog.)I was thinking today about the two things we do with the Bible on Sundays, Wednesday nights, and other things like that; we read it for ourselves, and we have it explained to us. I was thinking about that and realizing that a lot of time the explanation of what the Bible says is often valued more than the what the Bible

A Date with a Counselor

2006-06-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little defensive about the idea that there's something wrong with just knowing about God as opposed to knowing God. I'm learning a lot about Jesus right now as I read through and study the Gospel of Matthew, and I think that a large part of getting to know someone is knowing about their life outside of their direct involvement in mine. Then I have a better idea and context for his

Thank God for calculus...

2006-06-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes God moves loudly, as if spinning to another place like ball lightning. God is, oddly, personal; this God knows. Sometimes en route, dazzlingly or dimly, he shows an edge of himself to souls who seek him, and the people who bear those souls, marveling, know it, and see the skies carousing around them, and watch cells stream and multiply in green leaves. He does not give as the world

A nice British chap

2006-05-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Check this guy out. I'll let you know what I think in a little while.N.T. Wright on Jesus at the InterVarsity Press Conference, January of 1999:Jesus and the Kingdom (8.5MB MP3) Jesus and the Cross (8.2MB MP3) Jesus and God (10.4MB MP3) Jesus and the World's True Light (9.8MB MP3)

Easter revisited

2006-05-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

I moved the following over from my website. I posted it during the week before Easter: Daily Entries 04.19.06 "It has been said that, in the New Testament, doctrine is grace, and ethics is gratitude; and something is wrong with any form of Christianity in which, experimentally and practically, this saying is not being verified. Those who suppose that the doctrine of God's grace tends to

goethe & moses & paul

2006-05-16T13:18:00.001-07:00

"The greatest happiness of the thinking man is to have fathomed what can be fathomed, and quietly to reverence what is unfathomable." - Goethe, Sprüche in Prosa (Proverbs in Prose) "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." - Moses "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the

old guys

2006-05-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

Upon inspiration from a dear friend of mine (one of probably two people that read this blog...), I have begun a inquiry into the doctrine of the nature of the inspiration of the Bible. I plan on doing this for the next few months, just enough time to get really confused and give up... :) So, I thought I'd stick some stuff on hear, just in case anyone wants to come with me on this journey (or

uncle! thoughts on moleskins to start....

2006-05-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, i give in. I'm going to blog now. I don't know if it's cause I feel inspired or just because I just read a friends really cool blog and feel out of the loop, but here goes nothing...really, mostly nothing.Now I know there are great things to live up to as a blogger in the 21st century. I mean, people have been doing it for what, 5, maybe 10 years now. I've got a lot profundity,

The Gimp

2006-02-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

for anyone who might read this, I just installed a free photo editing and graphic design program called "the gimp". I am experimenting and would love any constructive comments on what comes out of this process. thanks!here's my first entry. thanks for watching!

Welcome!

2006-01-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog.