Courtney and I attended a contemplative retreat at YouthFront Camp South called The Altar. You may have heard about this before, because I have attended 4 times now. The weekend has gotten long for me in the past, so this time I drove down on Saturday morning, and stayed until Sunday.
The theme of the weekend was modern day slavery and fair trade, and how being Christians means that we should think about these things. We had regular times of solitude and prayer, and the Scripture read in that time was from Isaiah. It told from God's point of view that he doesn't appreciate as much as we do our religiosity and worship, and the real kind of worship he would like is to see us freeing those in chains, feeding those with hunger, etc. This was convicting. But I still struggle with what exactly I can/should do about this.
We had a speaker that told us that God only expects us to offer up our limited resources. The boy with the fish and loaves offered them up, and God was able to use it. So I would like to inventory what skills exactly I would have to offer.
For more details check out Mike King's blog inthe links on the right.
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Sunday, September 28, 2008
New Pastor of Community Covenant
99.2% of the congregation voted Yes to call Johan Tredoux to be our Senior Pastor. I was among those who have voted yes. He is wise, mature and is a good leader. And he is also reaching out to others, and we interact with him on Facebook. Also, we will be one of the only churches in town with a native of South Africa as our pastor.
Any redeeming thing about this?
My wife came across this publication.
I have many questions about this
This is probably the most inappropriate page to me, showing the kids suffering in hell.
Smoking represents sin here. What would you have chosen? I think it's funny that the cigarette is pointing the wrong way, and the cigarette box is bigger than his abdomen. Well I suppose the cigarette is facing the right way if he is offering it to the kids.
My overall opinion about this is that even though most of the message is true, it is provoking and not culturally appropriate. Plus it uses fear to pressure people to make a shallow decision to believe in Christ. A convert will believe just enough to escape the flames of hell, but not undergo any significant heart change. My theology of hell is not completely clear . I am not sure that there will be huge flames and kids. That is where I question the truth of the material.
I have many questions about this
- Could this be used to instruct someone how to get to heaven, and facilitate their salvation decision moment? If yes, is it worth the damage that could be done by this publication?
- Is this publication inappropriate?
This is probably the most inappropriate page to me, showing the kids suffering in hell.
Smoking represents sin here. What would you have chosen? I think it's funny that the cigarette is pointing the wrong way, and the cigarette box is bigger than his abdomen. Well I suppose the cigarette is facing the right way if he is offering it to the kids.
My overall opinion about this is that even though most of the message is true, it is provoking and not culturally appropriate. Plus it uses fear to pressure people to make a shallow decision to believe in Christ. A convert will believe just enough to escape the flames of hell, but not undergo any significant heart change. My theology of hell is not completely clear . I am not sure that there will be huge flames and kids. That is where I question the truth of the material.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Book Review: Auto Upkeep: Basic Car Care, Maintenance and Repair
I wanted to learn more about some car parts. I am primarily a book learner, and I don't really learn much elsewhere. So I thought I'd check out a book
I am not sure who exactly the intended audience is - a high school class? It repeatedly has an introduction, then the meat, and then conclusion, just like all of those textbooks from high school.
It has a section on purchasing a car, on fueling a car, as if the reader dropped from a different planet. It has a small section describing floor mats, with a picture. It has a picture of a chammy and one of a gas cap.
But it did have some descriptions of car parts, as I was looking for. I am not sure if I will remember all of it, but it did help.
I am not sure who exactly the intended audience is - a high school class? It repeatedly has an introduction, then the meat, and then conclusion, just like all of those textbooks from high school.
It has a section on purchasing a car, on fueling a car, as if the reader dropped from a different planet. It has a small section describing floor mats, with a picture. It has a picture of a chammy and one of a gas cap.
But it did have some descriptions of car parts, as I was looking for. I am not sure if I will remember all of it, but it did help.
Restaurant Review: Mr. Gyro's
For the first time, I went to that restaurant I've seen so often on the corner of 83rd and Metcalf. We went with some friends, and would have otherwise never gone. They don't have anything in terms of gluten free food, but I ate the contents of a KC Strip Steak gyro. Courtney ordered something that took about 20 minutes to make, but they said 10 minutes. So that was kind of disappointing. The food was average. Price was pretty good.
Afterwards we went to Foo's Fantastic Frozen Custard around 95th and Mission. We shared chocolate with chocolate fudge and chocolate chips. It was excellent. I would go again.
Afterwards we went to Foo's Fantastic Frozen Custard around 95th and Mission. We shared chocolate with chocolate fudge and chocolate chips. It was excellent. I would go again.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Book Review: Ministry Momentum: How to Get It, Keep It, and Use It in Your Church, by Wayne Schmidt
We read this book as part of our Community Covenant round table discussions. It also accompanies Pastor Johan's sermons on the book of Joshua.
The book wasn't really interesting to me. It was not targeted toward a specific type of church, so it tried to cover every angle. The author had a lot of wisdom though. It just wasn't really impactful. Is my life going to be different, or am I going to think differently about things now? Not really. This book may be more for pastors or the power leaders of churches.
The book wasn't really interesting to me. It was not targeted toward a specific type of church, so it tried to cover every angle. The author had a lot of wisdom though. It just wasn't really impactful. Is my life going to be different, or am I going to think differently about things now? Not really. This book may be more for pastors or the power leaders of churches.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Character-less sports moves
I think it is wrong to fire a successful manager with 12 games left, just because a team might get close to the playoffs for once, but actually not make the playoffs. The Milwaukee Brewers did this recently. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3589405. He is now robbed of any chance to see the fruit of his labors.
Plus, it's not cause and effect anyway. As if a manager being fired will suddenly cause a team to win.
This also happened with Nebraska football when Frank Solich was fired during a successful season. It was just less successful than Nebraska tradition. His replacement was much worse, and has now been fired. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1674143
Plus, it's not cause and effect anyway. As if a manager being fired will suddenly cause a team to win.
This also happened with Nebraska football when Frank Solich was fired during a successful season. It was just less successful than Nebraska tradition. His replacement was much worse, and has now been fired. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1674143
US government irresponsible
The US govt should let the free market take course. Companies that have made very bad decisions and have failed are essentially being saved by the government.
If no one else wanted to help these failing companies because of common sense, why would I want tax dollars doing this? The economy would have adjusted after a period of time. I'm not convinced that period of time would have even been very difficult. Most importantly, companies would learn from their mistakes and not have an enabler in the US govt. We need a true conservative in the White House, who is sadly neither of the candidates nor the current President.
If no one else wanted to help these failing companies because of common sense, why would I want tax dollars doing this? The economy would have adjusted after a period of time. I'm not convinced that period of time would have even been very difficult. Most importantly, companies would learn from their mistakes and not have an enabler in the US govt. We need a true conservative in the White House, who is sadly neither of the candidates nor the current President.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mike Sweeney retires
Here is a good article about Mike Sweeney's last day as a professional baseball player:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080909&content_id=3444178&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080909&content_id=3444178&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Movie Review: Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969.
It was quite creative, and was emotionally powerful. It made a lot of use of the flashback (or dream sequence) technique. I felt that even though these were filmed well, it sometimes was not clear what was happening. There was a lot of nudity, more than I'm used to seeing in films - maybe the most I've seen, but only a couple of the instances might be called gratuitous.
The two principal actors were great - Jon Voight playing Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman playing Ratso. Joe Buck is pretty much an idiot that leaves his dishwashing job in Texas to be a hustler in New York City. Later in the film, we find out that he has dealt with the lack of a father figure and with scarring memories of a rape situation. He goes to New York City to be a prostitute. I had misread that he was a gay prostitute, but he was actually heterosexual, or wanted to be. He doesn't really have success, and ends up living with a sickly con artist in an abandoned building. The con artists becomes his manager, but they don't have much success.
I didn't like how there were basically 2 songs in the movie. I was ready to not be hearing them by the end. I didn't like the scene with the religious wacko. That was weird. there were some parts with really good humor. And parts where I was very tense.
I thought it was a good picture of the lowest of the low in our culture - you don't even see their pain or know them. They're hanging out in abandoned buildings in total poverty. It's not for the faint of heart though, so take caution if you are sensitive to nudity or sexual themes and scary sequences. I have mixed feelings about wehre this will go into my movie ranking.
It was quite creative, and was emotionally powerful. It made a lot of use of the flashback (or dream sequence) technique. I felt that even though these were filmed well, it sometimes was not clear what was happening. There was a lot of nudity, more than I'm used to seeing in films - maybe the most I've seen, but only a couple of the instances might be called gratuitous.
The two principal actors were great - Jon Voight playing Joe Buck, and Dustin Hoffman playing Ratso. Joe Buck is pretty much an idiot that leaves his dishwashing job in Texas to be a hustler in New York City. Later in the film, we find out that he has dealt with the lack of a father figure and with scarring memories of a rape situation. He goes to New York City to be a prostitute. I had misread that he was a gay prostitute, but he was actually heterosexual, or wanted to be. He doesn't really have success, and ends up living with a sickly con artist in an abandoned building. The con artists becomes his manager, but they don't have much success.
I didn't like how there were basically 2 songs in the movie. I was ready to not be hearing them by the end. I didn't like the scene with the religious wacko. That was weird. there were some parts with really good humor. And parts where I was very tense.
I thought it was a good picture of the lowest of the low in our culture - you don't even see their pain or know them. They're hanging out in abandoned buildings in total poverty. It's not for the faint of heart though, so take caution if you are sensitive to nudity or sexual themes and scary sequences. I have mixed feelings about wehre this will go into my movie ranking.
Book Review: Doctor Zhivago
I don't know how I originally heard about this one, but I'm glad I picked it up. Only at the end did I realize that it was sad the whole time. But it was quite poetic and interesting throughout so and the tragedy of it didn't bother me.
It starts out with the principal characters as children, and pretty much progresses through their entire lives. Early on they are happy, and then sad, and then happy again. Then a war takes place, which disrupts everyone's lives. Then the Revolution takes place, which is initially welcome, but then socialism didn't work out according to ideals.
Ultimately, it's a story about how bad everything got during the Revolution. People went to the barter system, because money was worthless. People had to hide their crops to keep it from going as a quota to the government. Arrests were made just for disagreeing with the government. And there was unbelievable violence.
It is very well written, even though it is a translation. I have a few other Russian books to read: Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, and the Communist Manifesto.
It starts out with the principal characters as children, and pretty much progresses through their entire lives. Early on they are happy, and then sad, and then happy again. Then a war takes place, which disrupts everyone's lives. Then the Revolution takes place, which is initially welcome, but then socialism didn't work out according to ideals.
Ultimately, it's a story about how bad everything got during the Revolution. People went to the barter system, because money was worthless. People had to hide their crops to keep it from going as a quota to the government. Arrests were made just for disagreeing with the government. And there was unbelievable violence.
It is very well written, even though it is a translation. I have a few other Russian books to read: Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, and the Communist Manifesto.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Labor Day 2008
We had the Gras Labor Day get together in Hoyt KS. I never seem to want to write at length about it afterward, maybe because most of my blog readers were there. Also, it would take a lot of time to completely describe the weekend.
I uploaded pictures to Facebook. I've been struggling with finding the best way to display large groups of pictures on the blog. It seems to be the most practical way to display them on Facebook, even though I can't use it to put a slide show on my blog. But here are a couple of my favorites:
I uploaded pictures to Facebook. I've been struggling with finding the best way to display large groups of pictures on the blog. It seems to be the most practical way to display them on Facebook, even though I can't use it to put a slide show on my blog. But here are a couple of my favorites:
Book Review: QBQ!
This was kind of inspiring. Instead of asking questions about Why and When, instead ask questions How and What. Such as "What can I do about this situation?" QBQ stands for the Question Behind the Question.
Many of the chapters are 1 page. It was apparently written for people with extremely short attention spans. There were a few good stories about people who exhibited personal responsibility. None of those people had read the book QBQ, thus proving that the book is not really necessary.
But still, it has challenged me when I have caught myself asking the wrong questions.
It is a very short book, but still has 20 chapters. It is actually more like a pamphlet than a book.
Some people I have worked with in the past have had an attitude of blame and they asked many Why or Who questions. And they are not here anymore, because it was not possible for them to thrive in an environment where personal responsibility is necessary. We are a lean hard working machine.
Many of the chapters are 1 page. It was apparently written for people with extremely short attention spans. There were a few good stories about people who exhibited personal responsibility. None of those people had read the book QBQ, thus proving that the book is not really necessary.
But still, it has challenged me when I have caught myself asking the wrong questions.
It is a very short book, but still has 20 chapters. It is actually more like a pamphlet than a book.
Some people I have worked with in the past have had an attitude of blame and they asked many Why or Who questions. And they are not here anymore, because it was not possible for them to thrive in an environment where personal responsibility is necessary. We are a lean hard working machine.
Aunt Jean's Gelato
We met some friends for gelato at Aunt Jean's Gelato in downtown Shawnee. It was nice to be supporting our new hometown of Shawnee. We are developing a loyalty to Shawnee for no apparent reason. We live less than a mile away from Lenexa and less than a mile from Merriam.
The gelato is great. You should go there sometime!
The gelato is great. You should go there sometime!
Restaurant Review: Maui Express
I had wanted to go to this place for a while, because it is clearly gluten-free. But I hadn't really had a good opportunity to try it out. Dad and I went together during lunch break. I wasn't sure if they would have a place to sit, but they did, and there was Hawaiian music playing in the background. The cashier was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
It is similar to Chipotle, but specializes in bowls. The bowls have grilled vegetables, rice, and meat and a mild sauce. The portion is smaller than Chipotle (which is good for you), and the price is lower. The sauce may have had gluten but I didn't worry about that, because there was not much sauce and it wasn't a thick sauce.
I could see myself going there a lot. Maybe it will rival Taco Bell as my favorite quick restaurant around work.
It is similar to Chipotle, but specializes in bowls. The bowls have grilled vegetables, rice, and meat and a mild sauce. The portion is smaller than Chipotle (which is good for you), and the price is lower. The sauce may have had gluten but I didn't worry about that, because there was not much sauce and it wasn't a thick sauce.
I could see myself going there a lot. Maybe it will rival Taco Bell as my favorite quick restaurant around work.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Best of August 2008
Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: Poseidon
Best online video I watched for the First time: The Artist With No Eyes
Picture(s) of the Month by Courtney. A picture from Crapo Park in Burlington, IA. I think it's an excellent angle and zoom. A larger view of the picture is more effective.
Best New-To-Me Restaurant: Kyoto
Best Life Happening: Burlington IA Trip
Best Book I Read: The Hobbit
Honorable Mention Book: It's Called Work for a ReasonBest online video I watched for the First time: The Artist With No Eyes
Picture(s) of the Month by Courtney. A picture from Crapo Park in Burlington, IA. I think it's an excellent angle and zoom. A larger view of the picture is more effective.
Book Review: Messages
This was a nice book on communication skills. It really tackles the subject in a realistic way. I felt like I learned a few things, but might benefit from reading it again or by buying the workbook.
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