Oh man, I'm at Kelli's parents in Illinois right now and just saw a red-headed woodpecker up close with binoculars pecking away on this tree by the house. One of the coolest things I've ever seen. Apparently they have a really thick skull to protect their brain and eyes as they peck and a extremely long tongue to reach inside of the tree once they peck through it to eat the insects. These things are amazing!!!

The God Solution

Many of you are famliar with or have read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. The first full length response to this book is coming out soon that I just wrote a back cover copy for called The God Solution by Dr. James A. Beverley who is a professor of Christian thought at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. Unfortunately I was not able to read all of this book yet but what I have read has been excellent. From what I have heard Dawkins makes a pretty poor case in his book (not to mention his vehemenence and intolerance that even other atheists have admitted being embarrased by). But aside from a critique of Dawkins work (in a very fair way I will add), Beverley who has spent the last 30 years studying world religions and apologetics lays out a compelling case for faith and discusses the best and worst arguments for evil, 20 different views of Jesus, the time he has spent with the Dalai Lama, and also has an open letter to Sam Harris! There is so much in this book to be interested by. I'm excited to read the rest. Anyway, I don't usually talk about books that I write cover copies for, but this one is one that I'm excited about.

Amen to this!

Area Man Just Wants To Throw One Good Punch In His Life

There has been WAY too much good stuff in the Onion lately. This article is right on the money!

My Bad

Kelli got me this book for Christmas and it has made fantastic bathroom reading. Basically the book recounts 25 years of public apologies and gives a blurb of what brought on the apology. Anyway here is one I thought particularly hilarious.

"Obviously, it's a mistake. It's not something that we would ever have done intentionally. while we do proofread these things very carefully, with the volume on that particular page, that was something that was missed."

Jennifer Belodeau, spokeswomans for Caldor department stores, apologizing for a toys-and-games advertising supplement distributed in eighty-five Northeast newspapers that featured an image of two smiling boys sitting around a Scrabble board on which was spelled the word "RAPE." Nov. 3rd 1998

Wow! Now THAT makes your day seem not so bad!

Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

American Idol

There's no question that American Idol and it's winners from years past produce the worst music in the industry (I don't think that is an overstatement). But what is worse about the show is how it is not "reality" television in any way. The producers show what they want to show to cast those they want to move on as heroes and those they want to lose, they either never show, or cast in a bad light. How is that reality?

I had heard about the website www.votefortheworst.com but just now checked it out today. Very entertaining. Make sure you read this article about what really goes on behind the scenes. I absolutely believe this happens. I think American Idol displays the worst of American pop culture, it is the pinnacle of how stupid we have become (i may have overstated that, maybe). At the least, it does a great job building stories around mostly "no-talent ass clowns" to quote Michael on Office Space.

Come on, look at these albums!














Do you notice how the album art all has one thing in common? It's clear that what they are selling is not the music. It's the person that you think you got to know during the season. I'm convinced that none of this has anything to do with music. Who's buying this stuff??? Seriously, who are you that buys this??? "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

If you are looking for an overview of the actual contributions to philosophy by Derrida, Foucault, and Lyotard (quite possibly my favorite philosopher name), then this is a fantastic resource. Not only does the James K.A. Smith summarize (as best as one can) these philosopher's main works, he also takes a positive position on how these ideas can benefit the faith and the church.

At my Bible College, looking back now I feel that I got robbed of actually understanding the philosophy of these fellows but instead they got demonized as the antichrist and mostly misrepresented for what they actually said. This is a much clearer portrayal of their actual thoughts and how it contributes to postmodernity in a very readable book. I highly recommend it!

For my advanced hermeneutics class our final project has been to do a white paper for each of the following philosophers: Derrida, Foucault, Rorty, Wittgenstein, Fish, and Ricouer and their contribution to postmodern thought and hermeneutics. This has been a fantastic study thus far! Many thanks to Chris for helping to make sense of and define some of these concepts for me last week over a pint (where philosophy should be done!)

My New Favorite Show on Television

Thank God You're Here is fantastic! If you haven't seen this, check it out. It has just moved to Wednesday nights. The basic premise is there are four actors/comedians who each take a turn getting thrust into a room wearing a costume and having no idea what set they are walking into. The actors on the set have a basic script but the one walking in has nothing, but just has to improv everything as if he is in the scene.

So far, Kevin Nealon and Harlon Williams have been hilarious! Some of the people are naturals and just take control of the scene, some of them suck and bomb! Great show. The only problem I have with the show is the part by Dave Foley. What the heck is that guy doing on there? He's supposed to be the judge but he never says anything! He's just like, "that was hilarious." And that's it!!! Did he create it or something and had to find a way to work himself in?

2007 - A Great Year For Music

I haven't really talked a whole lot about music lately so here's some new stuff that I'm really digging. Let me know what you're listening to!

Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
This album is fan-freaking-tastic! This might be one of my favorite releases so far this year and I just started listening to it this week. He is so talented. I think I like this better than The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Wow, i'm very impressed.


Dr. Dog - We All Belong
Bringing some of their Philly goodness.





The Clientele - God Save the Clientele
This is a band that I had heard of and Chris recommended. I like it.




Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
Good follow up to Howl but i'm still not fully into yet. It's got some great potential.





Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara
Yes, that is true that this album hasn't come out yet but when it does, get it! It's great if you like their other work. Nothing real new or groundbreaking for them but it's still a great rainy day listen.


Islands - Return to the Sea
I can't believe I haven't listened to this before. Very quirky, almost silly in some places but what a great use of unique instruments! Very catchy and a unique sound. Try to listen to Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby and not have it in your head the rest of the day.


Jeremy Enigk - World Waits
Sure his voice inflections are the same in every song, so what? It's Jeremy Enigk, what's their not to like?




The One AM Radio - This Too Will Pass






Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities
Bordering on almost too much of a country sound for me, but not quite! Great songwriting and storytelling. Worth a listen just for that.



This list isn't complete until I list some albums I have not liked lately:
1. Rosie Thomas - With Help From My Friends
2. Fountains of Wayne - Traffic and Weather (time to try something new guys)
3. The National - Boxer
4. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times (I keep wanting to like them and they always have a few good songs, but there are also always a few songs that make me wish the band never existed (such as Day Old Blues or Charmer). I always love their artwork though!)
5. Ted Leo - Living with the Living (I have yet to hear a Ted Leo song that I can remember after I hear it) .
6. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (Put a bullet in my head)

Being negative like this feels good sometimes. One of those days I suppose.

Notice on my list of stuff I like lately that there are NO women. Why is that? I like women. I like women's voices. I feel like it's really hard to find something from a women band that I like (although the new Innocence Mission is growing on me). Any suggestions???

One bone to pick with Innocence Mission's song "Happy Birthday". It sounds like she's smiling when she sings the chorus of this song and that really bothers me. I don't like when it sounds like the singer is smiling. It's goofy. I also think that the lead singer's voice sounds a little too cute. This is a album i listen to when I want to feel like a woman. I'm not really helping anything by continuing this post. I think i should quit.

Beer, Blades, and Wesley?

Big Sky Brewing has some good summer beer called Summer Honey Ale. This is the perfect cold, refreshing wheat beer for a warm summer day. I highly recommend it.

In other beer news, Travis and I bottled our hefeweizen last Saturday and it will be ready to drink next Sunday for homegroup! I'm excited to see how it came out. I think we're going to brew a recipe that we make up ourselves this time.













We saw Blades of Glory this weekend and it was fantastic! Great supporting cast and hilarious laughs. If you liked Anchorman I can guarantee you will enjoy this. Jon Heder and Will Ferrell make a great comedy pair. Go see it!


















Other than that, i've had nothing to say lately (as you can see by what I have been posting). I've felt a little stagnant as far as having any thoughts that matter to anyone. I have been thinking through Wesley's idea of Christian Perfectionism lately as I have been reading "Five Views on Sanctification" which is a great book. I can understand the idea that once we have been regenerated by the Spirit, by God's grace we can willfully say no to conscious sin every time. (this doesn't mean however that we will never sin, but that when we are faced with temptation we have the ability by God's grace to say no every time). This sounds a little Pelagian, but it's obviously not since we are talking post-regeneration. It's hard to deny that by the power of God's Spirit we should be able to say no to sin. Plus there is still the idea of sanctification being a process which I assume means that the more we know of God's desires for our lives, the more we will be able to consciously say no to sin and be like Christ. But, doesn't that lead to an "ignorance is bliss" mentality. After all, if I don't KNOW it's a sin!

There is obviously a process in which God changes our hearts and gives us the grace to love Him and love other people, but I guess the big question is, where and in what time frame does that happen? I tend to see it as a gradual process, although you would think that there is something that God changes in our disposition in the beginning to kick the process off.

I do have a few problems with this system however.

One, there are some implications of this theology tends to be a strict legalism which focuses on personal piety rather than the grand scheme of holiness which will include an idea of corporate holiness as well (thanks for that idea Stephen). I think personal piety is a small piece of the holiness pie, but unfortunately since the Wesleyan holiness movement it has devalved into being ONLY personal piety (this might not be the case in reality, but it is what I have seen to be a trend in churches such as the Church of God or Church of the Nazarene). Overall however I am intrigued by the idea of this and if the realm of holiness is enlarged to include what we do rather than simply what we don't do (which Wesley himself may very well have thought as he was such a great advocate of social causes).

Two, John Wesley says that the purpose of salvation is personal holiness. I think there is something to this but I do not think this is a complete picture of the purpose of salvation. If that is the goal, then I guess I would shelter myself from the world and all that could possibly tempt me, I would only spend time with other Christians, I would only listen to Christian music, I would only read the Bible, etc, etc. I think this is where it would lead us (and many times has) . When personal holiness is the purpose of life, then mission gets pushed to the side.

Three, what if we do sin consciously? Does that mean we are not regenerated or "born-again" followers of Jesus? Does this mean that we are frauds? I'm not sure what Wesley would say about this. Anyone?

Four (this isn't really a reaction to Wesley's system), in some ways as a reaction to the legalism that abounds in conservative churches having to do with personal piety I feel the emerging church has reacted against this by not striving for personal piety whatsoever as an overcorrective! "We're going to drink, smoke, and cuss to prove to the world that we're not legalists!" Any thoughts on that?

But then again, this is only the first chapter. I'm interested to hear the other four views! Drew, your thoughts???

"Promoting self under the guise of promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice."
-A.W. Tozer

This is a gem hidden in The Pursuit of God that it seems we all need to repent of and guard against!

i've got a pretty good idea

A First Haircut

I love this picture of my niece getting her hair cut for the first time. She looks absolutely terrified!

Can someone please tell me what in the world Noah was talking about after the Championship? Did he just lose his mind or what? "Yo, you have no idea how we're going to do it tonight, you have NO IDEA. My boys have an idea though."

I don't know man, I feel like I have a pretty good idea.

It's your one moment to speak on national television and that's what you say? Are you serious?