i was in a convenience store the other day and saw “pecan patties” for sale on the counter. it reminded me that i really don’t like the word “patty” it’s just on of those words that make me squirm when i hear it and the thought of something edible being called a “patty” just makes it all the worse. some words are just not meant to actually be used.
scandlous
i haven’t quite finished it yet but after reading most of ron sider’s “the scandal of the evangelical conscience” i have to say that it is an incredible book. i’ve really been challenged by what i have read. it’s a strong call for CHRISTians to live the dramatic call of CHRIST within the real world.
ron sider is the founder of the evangelicals for social action and is a strong voice for social justice within the CHRISTian community.
i’ve also started reading “GOD’s politics : why the right gets It wrong and the left doesn’t get it” by jim wallis, the editor in chief of sojourners, and though i have only finished the first chapter within it i have been very impressed with it.
the annual church crawfish boil was today and as usual it was allot of fun. it was at least nice that the church staff won the annual church staff versus church deacons softball game. usually the deacons bring in a few “ringers” to kill us. i think the only reason we won was because the deacons were missing their “ringers.” of course, i’m okay with that because it still counts as a win.
the new york times > washington > frist set to use religious stage on judicial issue
the new york times > washington > frist set to use religious stage on judicial issue
- As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as “against people of faith” for blocking President Bush’s nominees.
i hate being lumped in with the people involved with this. why is it that conservative CHRISTians can be such incredible pains? i’m conservative in the majority of my believes and i really despise being associated with these lunatics simply by association of beliefs. why can’t we just calling these actions what they are … politics!
pure and simply that’s what they are. one party is trying to gain power over another party. it’s happened since the creation of our country. getting bush’s judges appointed is not a “holy war”. it’s not a battle that is going to save faith in america. in fact, CHRISTian faith has nothing to do with wether these judges get into office or not. so can we please quite acting like it does?
please read and comply
let me announce this for everyone to hear – unless you are handicapped or you have a small infant sitting by his/herself in your vehicle there is absolutely no reason for you to just leave your shopping cart anywhere within a parking lot. the purpose for all the cart corrals is for you to place your shopping carts in them.
i hate it when people just leave their carts strewn all over the parking lot.
CHRISTian consumerism?
i don’t usually ever criticize other churches – or at least i try not to. i figure that none of us actually get this CHRISTianity thing right and between all of us maybe we’ll at least do a decent job of worshiping CHRIST. yet this week i saw something that i just have to say something about and it concerns a church bookstore.
personally i am not a huge fan of church book stores. i actually would love church book stores if they really had anything to do with spiritual formation. my problem with church book stores is that nowadays they usually have nothing to do with spiritual formation at all. you won’t find classics of CHRISTian thought or books dealing with the depth and mystery of CHRIST within most church book stores. nope, what you’ll find is a bunch of self-help crap and dumb trinkets for sale. that’s where my criticism comes in. in my opinion church bookstores or only slightly better than lifeway book stores which are only slightly better than family CHRISTian bookstores.
this past wednesday one of the teens within our student ministry showed me a stick of lip balm. it was custom printed “God Chicks” lip balm with the church’s name on it. i figured it was just a trinket that the church gave out to get people to remember some message or event that they were doing. personally, i think giving things out that remind people of what the church has done or is doing is a great idea. we need to help people remember significant times within their lives and small everyday items are a great way to do that. of course, i was wrong about the church giving the lip balm out to remind people. nope, the church book store was actually just selling the lip balm just for the purpose of having something to sell. she said it had been given to her by a friend who saw it in the church book store and thought she would like it so she bought it for her. what in the world does lip balm have to do with the kingdom? i mean give me a break. what does selling specially printed lip balm have to do with spreading the gospel? this idea has to be even dumber than “testamints. this comes from a good, strong church that i would expect better from.
why is it that we feel the need to sell junk in the name of CHRIST?
if you really want to see something that will make you sick go to christianthings.com. the site starts off with a flash presentation of john 3:16. i guess the implication is that GOD so loved the world that HE freed us to buy crap.
family guy
awhile back for a variety of reasons my family and i decided to get rid of all but the most basic cable package. we now only have abc, nbc, cbs, fox, upn, pbs, and wgn (along with 7 or 8 home shopping and public service stations). this means that if a show is not on a major network i simply can’t see it until it reaches dvd. i’ve seen a few rereuns of the family guy but i’ve never been able to see many of the episodes. yet so many of the people i hang around with talk non-stop about the show. they say it is better than “the simpsons“. i found that statement hard to believe so i decided to rent one of the dvds and watch the show.
so now i have watched the dvd. while i think it is a funny show i would by no means compare it to “the simpsons.” it’s simply not in the same category. “the family guy” is a good, funny show. “the simpsons” is the greatest animated show ever and one of the best televisions shows ever. that’s the difference between the two.
pastor’s retreat network
awhile back pam, my wife, found the pastor’s retreat network – an organization whose purpose is to provide sabbath times for pastors and their spouses. they believe in this so strongly that they provide the service for free.
even though the room and board is free for pastors i would still be willing to bet that they are very rarely “booked up.” it seems to me that we pastors do not do a very good job of “sabbath-ing.” we have so absorbed the culture of this world that we think that part of our gospel mandate is to be constantly busy. we have to spread the good news. we have to shepherd our people. there’s so much for us to do. we are very busy people?
was JESUS busy? when we work so hard at “doing” things for the gospel do we convey JESUS very well.
warm heart
as much as i love her i have to publicly proclaim that pam, my wife, has the coldest hands on earth. at the dinner table today she reached over and touched my arm and i literally jumped. brrr chill.
i love you my little ice princess.
tax day
it’s the day to send in your tax forms. therefore, i though i would post a little tax trivia.
- in 2005, americans will work 70 days to afford their federal taxes and 37 more days to afford state and local taxes. on average, everything earned by the typical american taxpayer from january 1st, through april 17th, went to the federal, local and state governments.
everything you earn starting april 18 is yours.
unless you get a raise… - the gettysburg address is 269 words, the declaration of independence is 1,337 words, and the holy bible is only 773,000 words. however, the tax law has grown from 11,400 words in 1913, to over 7 million words today.
- there are at least 480 different tax forms, each with many pages of instructions. even the easiest form, the 1040e has 33 pages in instructions, and all in fine print.
- the irs sends out 8 billion pages of forms and instructions each year. laid end to end, they would stretch 28 times around the earth.
- nearly 300,000 trees are cut down yearly to produce the paper for all the irs forms and instructions. the total number of computers thrown out the window, or kicked with a frustrated foot is unknown.
- american taxpayers spend $200 billion and 5.4 billion hours working to comply with federal taxes each year, more than it takes to produce every car, truck, and van in the united states.
- the irs employs 114,000 people; that’s twice as many as the cia and five times more than the fbi.
- 60% of taxpayers must hire a professional to get through their own return.
- taxes eat up nearly 40% of the average family’s income; that’s more than for food, clothing and shelter combined.
blockbuster
i have to confess something. actually i’m not sure that “confess” is the right word since i’m not really sure that what i need to tell you is evil. still it is definitely devious. ii have started a new habit … hiding movies at blockbuster. i find a new movie that i know pam and i desire to watch but that i’m sure will be all checked out in the next few days and then hide that movie behind another movie that will remind me of it. this past weekend i hide “spanglish” behind a spanish documentary (btw, “spanglish” was an excellent movie though nothing like it’s trailer which made it look like a romantic comedy – which it wasn’t). my plan worked perfectly. i walked up to the spanish documentary, grabbed my copy of “spanglish” and checked out the only copy of “spanglish” in the store.
i was so pleased by my new strategy that today i hide a copy of “hotel rwanda. of course, “hotel rwanda” is no ordinary movie. it’s one of those movies that everyone should watch and by hiding it i may have assured that someone doesn’t get to watch the movie. i’m really evil.