Category: personal

pam, my lovely, intelligent, can caring wife, brought this article to my attention. it hit an interesting never considering our interim pastor announced yesterday that he would be leaving in december i thought it was appropriate.

are CHRISTians also human beings? are we permitted to talk about our lives the way other humans do? can we admit mistakes, confess uncertainty, and be honest about conflicts? is it okay not to have an airtight spiritual explanation for everything that happens?

one of the greatest causes of cynicism among CHRISTians is the way we lather GOD-talk over our lives in order to obscure realities we consider too painful to discuss directly.

if you get the wittenberg door’s update email you have probably already seen this but i figured i would throw it out there just in case. it would appear that JESUS is now making a little money on the side by doing intros for websites. at leat that’s what i’m guessing since this youth group’s website has a greeting from JESUS. i feel a little unworthy as a youth minister since i can’t seem to get HIM to do one of these for me.

two side points: 1)apparently all those older paintings of JESUS with blue eyes were right (very odd for an ancient near eastern hebrew, but who can deny video?), 2)watch HIS eyes as you move the cursor around. remember HE is watching.

if anyone has any old dark room equipment that you no longer want i’m trying to set up a dark room at the student center. of course, i want to do this for free so i want to see what i can get donated. here’s what i’m looking for:

• processing tanks
• timers
• processing chemicals
• enlarger (medium format if possible)
• developing trays
• matt cutter (for framing prints)
• etc.

i’m just wondering if anyone has any of these things that he/she is wanting to get rid of.

i just saw a commercial for lost reminding everyone that the new season starts in 4 days. i can’t wait. if you haven’t watched “lost” yet you should try to watch the first and second seasons before wednesday and then join in on the fun. it’s the best thing on television, which normally wouldn’t be sying much but in this case it’s really good.

SIDE NOTE – pam made fried dill pickles tonight with supper. for those who don’t know what friend dill pickles are i will describe them. basically fried dill pickles involve taking a small piece of paradise, mixing it with vinegar and flour, and then deep frying that mess. oh it’s so good. unfortunately it creates quite a mess and therefore pam doesn’t make them all the time. they are so very good when she does make them. mmmmh!

my run for the day
distance – 2.8 miles
total time – 25:29
pace – 9:06/mile

i’m just posting this because i couldn’t find a running map of highland park on the internet. since, i had wanted to find one and was unable i figured i would post it for the next person who wants to find a cross country running map of highland. i’m nice that way.

on a side note i would like to add that on photography by susan sontag is great. to quote:

the camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.

my run for the day
distance – 5.5 miles
total time – 52:04
pace – 9:46/mile

if i ever plant a church i think i’ll fit in one mindset right behind “loving GOD” and “loving others”. it will be “no church people.” that might go against the “loving others” mindset but i think JESUS will understand.

i saw this on problogger via lifehacker and i wanted to keep it around somewhere. this seemed like as good of a spot as any to archive this thing.

here are 15 rules for fighting fair:

1. Know what you’re fighting about
2. Stick to one subject only
3. Be direct – say how you feel, say what you require
4. Choose the time of your battles carefully
5. Keep quarrels private
6. Don’t read your partner’s mind
7. Don’t expect your partner to read your mind
8. Don’t Blame
9. Own your own feelings – this means starting sentences with ‘I feel’, not ‘you make me feel’
10. Don’t talk each other down
11. Don’t hit below the belt
12. Don’t wear the belt too high
13. Don’t bring up past fights and use them as ammunition for the present one
14. Actively listen
15. No physical Violence

i’m sure that this will go under the “too much information” category for some of you but i had a running first for me today. i ran my longest run to date today (7.5 miles) and by the end of the experience i had developed a slight case of jogger’s nipple. when you run longer distances you can developed an irritation on your nipples. i knew y’all would be thrilled. i promise not to share any more information.

my run for the day
distance – 7.5 miles
total time – 1:19:02
pace – 10:32/mile

i’m not much for “marketing the church.” i don’t really like the idea of trying to sell the church. that doesn’t mean that i don’t appreciate good marketing or graphic design when it comes to the church. it’s more than i don’t want it as a primary focus of the church or a pillar of bringing people into the church. i basically believe that church marketing probably just brings in “church people” and i’m not very interested in getting “church people” to move from one church to another. i’d rather see the unchurched enter our doors. i believe that purpose, meaning, and love are what will bring the unchurched to be involved with us (please notice i did not say “bring the unchurched to our doors’).

with all the above said i do like the site church marketing sucks and i enjoyed their link to the british church advertising network. their past campaigns are incredible.