Thoughts and Ruminations

One can only prop up the house of lies for so long in the face of mounting evidence. You can’t say you don’t deserve this, Barry.

Link here.

Ok, so here’s the deal. There’s this great guy named Josh Brown who likes to think and dream about what the church could be. This great guy has a little brother named Blake with a dream to be a DJ. Blake’s in a competition not unlike the avalanche of reality TV that we see everyday, except I would imagine he’s a bit more balanced than some of the folks you see in those shows. In addition, Blake is up against a whole passel of women, but I’m not going to make this a Title IX thing. Just vote for the brutha, ok?!

Here’s the link to vote.

ht josh brown

News story…it’s getting deeper.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5188420.stm

I can’t put into words how saddened I am by the mutual hatred on all sides of the Israel/Hamas conflict, the Israel/Hezbollah conflict, and the U.S./al-Qaeda network (and whoever can be “linked” to it) in which innocent civilians are paying the price for terrorist organizations and governmental elite to play their wargames and inflame the masses…I have friends who have lived with Palestinians and Jews, working alongside them, hearing their stories. And I can say this, 98% of those populating Palestine, Israel, and Lebanon are just trying to make it through the day, raise and provide for their families, and live a semi-decent life. I also know another thing; the violence that hangs over their heads and kills their family members takes those people just trying to make a living and inflames them to carry out vengeance on those who have taken away their wives, husbands, and children. I already know a couple near me here in the Shenandoah Valley who lost their nephew, and his younger brother, a teenager, hates Iraqis, and is joining up when he turns 18 to carry out “justice” for his brother’s death. Anyone with any real concept of who pays the price in modern warfare should immediately take a step back from considering rushing into a war. And I’m not talking about Christians. Any Christian willing to be self-critical should hold themselves to a higher standard and ask some hard questions, both to governments of the world and to themselves…

Who’s going to pay the bulk of the price for this military incursion? (civilians bear the brunt both in sanctions and in warfare, the lower socioeconomic classes populate the standing armies)

How does my complicity or lack thereof in this instance reflect my commitment to Christ? (Both military personnel and civilians). Newsflash: Christianity’s not a hat you put on on Sundays and take off when you drop a bomb on a bridge covered with civilian automobiles.

Is my belief system simply that…a belief system? Or am I willing to take the hard steps to consistently show with my actions what I claim I believe?

When I talk about love and justice, whose definition am I working with? A secular one? Or am I letting Jesus define both the means AND the end to love and justice? If Jesus is not: I’m committing idolatry, the most heinous sin in the Old Testament.

Here’s a call to consistency and courage of Christians around the globe: If we believe God is sovereign, that our earthly lives are but a vapor, that this world is a testing ground, and that Jesus showed us what love for our neighbors really means, we should stop sliding down the slippery slope of relativism (or climb back up where we should be, if we’re already at the bottom), and show the world that following Christ means they can expect the same behavior from Christians whether they’re under fire or living in comfort.

What do we want? Involving ourselves in the machinations of this fallen world to the point where we’re clearly rationalizing and justifiying our unfaithfulness, or do we want to be conformed to the image of Christ? Which will impact the world deeper over the long haul? Do we trust God (the definition of faith), or are we engaging in another variant of functional atheism…thinking we’ve gotta make justice happen since God seems to be incapable of doing so Himself?

Important questions. We’ve got to deal with them. The status of the world hinges on whether you and I will live like we’re part of a new community of boundless love, of self-sacrifice, of radical forgiveness, and the pursuit of righteousness. God won’t force this on us, but he will judge us for our unfaithfulness should we blow this responsibility off.

Is the new color scheme dizzying? Stupid? You like? I just wanted to change things up a bit, but I don’t want to cause any seizures with the scrolling, ya know?

Check out these links. You won’t regret it.

Conan. is. the. bomb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi4-1d9DB9Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLeVKGSJWE&mode=related&search=

The fact that that’s Stuy’s graduation (up in NY) reminds me of the time I was accused of potentially preying on high school females from Stuy when I studied abroad in Spain for a month. To make a long story short, there were high schoolers and college students in the same program I was in for a month. We all traveled together, and when we arrived in Barcelona for our last week in Spain, we were told to go to the hotel front desk to pick up our room keys. Rooms were to be with someone your age of the same gender. I happened to be near the front. I got my key, dropped off my bag in my room, and promptly left with some other college students to get dinner and check out the town. We returned at approximately 1 a.m. The high school chaperone was sitting at my door. I walked up to said door. She commenced screaming at me and calling me a sexual predator. I, confused, turned to my friend and asked what was going on. She continued screaming. After four minutes or so, she started to run out of stamina (though her threats had turned to the more ominous “I’m pressing charges” variety), so I slipped in a question.

“Would you please tell me why I’m a suggested sexual predator?”
“YOU’RE IN THE SAME ROOM AS MY HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS!!!”
“But I didn’t know.”
“YEAH RIGHT. ALL YOU COLLEGE GUYS WANT TO DO IS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUNG GIRLS!”
(Me, thinking she’s carrying a wound from her past due to the ridiculous generalization) “Please calm down. I had no idea there were females in this room. I simply dropped off my bags and left.”
“NOT SO QUICK YOUNG MAN. YOU CAN’T GET OFF THAT EASILY.”
(Me, ears blown out from the decibels her voice was reaching)
“Look, I’ll get my clothes, etc out of the room and stay with my friend on his floor tonight, and we’ll get this figured out in the morning.”
“NO WE WON’T!” (She gets my chaperone up and screams at him)…

You get the point. I won’t hit this all blow by blow, but she soon stopped breathing ominous threats against me (though I’m not sure if this changed her opinion of college guys), and things settled down. Wouldn’t that have been fun! Tossed in the slammer for doin’ nuttin! That’s shades of Rubin Carter, right there.

Looks like God was taking care of me before I was acknowledging him with my life.

Check out the temper tantrum this minor league manager threw…Geez! Reminds me of my former days.

P.S. Thanks, Mark Malone, aka “Ahab” for challenging me on my anger meltdowns and the reality that they were ruining my capability to lead. It took the NC State/MWC rugby game and Mark having the stones to challenge me afterwards that provided the impetus to change how I handled my anger. Maybe this guy needs to talk to Mark.

Here’s the beginning of the article…there’s also a video.

Minor league manager Joe Mikulik had a major league meltdown.

To say Mikulik — skipper for the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists — lost his cool Sunday in a Class A South Atlantic League baseball game against the Lexington (Ky.) Legends would be a gross understatement.

“That was incredible. That’s gotta be on ESPN or something,” Legends starter Tip Fairchild told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “I’ve seen coaches go off, but that was pretty good. … He used everything — bases, the resin bag, the hat, the dirt. Everything.”

The link is here.

I was flipping through the pages of the Next-Wave Ezine (figuratively speaking, of course), and came upon this beautiful article written by Dan Kimball (crazy hair!!), a fellow serving Christ in a community of Christ-followers called Vintage Faith in Southern California.

In his opening comments he says this:

“We just wrapped up a teaching series at Vintage Faith Church where we were talking about “church” being people and not a building. As part of the series, we had little blank white post cards in every bulletin and asked the question of everyone “What do you dream this church could be?” and then had them fill in the black on the card, “I Dream Of A Church…..” and then whatever they might dream of. We are really trying to create a culture where the church is not about just the pastors dreams and hopes but the people of the church, who are the church, are the dreamers of what God could do in us and through us as a church. I got the responses and it was really amazing and humbling reading the several hundred responses that were turned in…”

As intrigued as I was? Click on the link to read more.

Here’s the link to the article.