A documentary is coming out next week on the Discovery Channel about a crypt in Jerusalem which James Cameron (director of Titanic and Terminator) is claiming holds the bones of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Mary Mag (presumed wife of Jesus), and Judas (child of Jesus and Mary). This crypt was actually discovered back in 1980 and the archaeologists saw the names "Jesus son of Joseph", "Mary", "Mary Magdelene", "Matthew", "Joseph", and "Judas son of Jesus" . Significantly this didn't warrant any eyebrows being raised back then because all those names are common names to find in crypts all over Israel.
So how are they turning this into a story if archaeological experts are uniformly dismissing this as a publicity stunt?
First, (and mainly IMHO) it's a big movie director who's bringing up a popular sort of topic with a twist that he's going to try some DNA testing. "The DaVinci Code" was a big seller and decent selling movie, so it's something about which a lot of people are familiar, and everyone is impressed with DNA technology.
Second, a statistician is saying that the chances of all those names being together in one tomb are 1 in 600 to possibly 1 in a million. The names Mary, Jesus, Joseph, and Matthew were all common names, with Mary being the name of 25% of the women of the time, at least as far as we can tell from now, 2000 years later.
Until I see the show, I won't be able to tell exactly how they're coming at their claims, but one very quick something that makes it extremely unlikely that this is the tomb of Jesus and Family is brought up by one of the archaeologists that first studied the crypt. Bar Ilan University Professor Amos Kloner, said "There is no likelihood that Jesus and his relatives had a family tomb." He explained, "They were a Galilee family with no ties in Jerusalem. The Talpiot tomb belonged to a middle-class family from the first century CE [Common Era]." During an interview with the film's producers, Kloner also said that "Jesus, son of Joseph" inscriptions had been found on several other ossuaries in Israel. I wonder how much emphasis they'll give to any of this?
So how worried am I? About some things, not at all, but about others I'm more concerned. Am I worried that there's going to be some great revelation that Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead? HA! This is a junk publicity stunt, at best.
What does worry me is that they'll put on a slick-looking show, present none of the evidence which debunks their claims, and people who don't know any better will actually believe the show. Unfortunately, this is far too likely a possibility.
But, if possible we're going to get our youth group to watch it and do a week on it. Maybe some of the kids will learn enough to cogently put forward an explanation of why the show is junk should the topic come up for them. In a more perfect world, shows would not get produced that claim to be presenting fact but are in actuality merely specious lies. But until that time, hopefully the YG will be able to make some small effect.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Ruby!
Ok, here's the computer nut in me coming out again: RUBY!
Here's the site for those who aren't familiar with it.
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/about/
And here's the big Ruby developer tool for web services.
http://www.rubyonrails.org/
Like smalltalk, it's a completely object oriented language with even the typical numeric and primitive types being objects. Like Java and unlike C++, it just has single inheritance (not multiple) which makes things simpler. C++ code can get really nasty working out the inheritance series. Ruby goes with the include style of "inheritance" which is much nicer IMHO! Sounds like it has some good memory clean up, though I haven't given it a try. It's an interpreted language, so it has a standard performance hit compared to compiled languages, and is a bit slower than Python and Perl. However it has a smaller memory footprint than either. I've seen indications that some future release will be bytecode compiled (like Java) to run on a VM called YARV, and this would presumably give it a pretty hefty speed increase and make it faster than Python and Perl.
David, you're a bit of a fan of smalltalk, so you might enjoy Ruby. Give it a whirl, I like it so far.
Here's the site for those who aren't familiar with it.
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/about/
And here's the big Ruby developer tool for web services.
http://www.rubyonrails.org/
Like smalltalk, it's a completely object oriented language with even the typical numeric and primitive types being objects. Like Java and unlike C++, it just has single inheritance (not multiple) which makes things simpler. C++ code can get really nasty working out the inheritance series. Ruby goes with the include style of "inheritance" which is much nicer IMHO! Sounds like it has some good memory clean up, though I haven't given it a try. It's an interpreted language, so it has a standard performance hit compared to compiled languages, and is a bit slower than Python and Perl. However it has a smaller memory footprint than either. I've seen indications that some future release will be bytecode compiled (like Java) to run on a VM called YARV, and this would presumably give it a pretty hefty speed increase and make it faster than Python and Perl.
David, you're a bit of a fan of smalltalk, so you might enjoy Ruby. Give it a whirl, I like it so far.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Careful about those poker games!
Daughter gambled away in a poker game
Aye! This was funny and sad at the same time. It's amazing that a daughter (or anyone) could be "sold" for $151!! It makes sense that people don't care as much about others who live far away and don't have connections. But it makes a joke of pundits who claim that Christianity, America, or the West in general is so horrible to women.
Aye! This was funny and sad at the same time. It's amazing that a daughter (or anyone) could be "sold" for $151!! It makes sense that people don't care as much about others who live far away and don't have connections. But it makes a joke of pundits who claim that Christianity, America, or the West in general is so horrible to women.
A Madcap, Whirlwind Weekend
First off - NEW CAR! 1999 Chevy Malibu, 133K miles, good looks, 27 MPG, free 6 month warranty for repairs, only $2800!!! Took a bit of shopping and since I only had one day to do all the shopping, it was a full day. Finally got it late that evening after a bit of registration and insurance "fun". REALLY bad part about the car - it has a Slippery Rock bumper sticker on it! AAAHHHHHHH!
Jeremiah absolutely fell in love with his Superman outfit! I had been giving teasers for the last couple visits - "Grandma has a Superman outfit for you when we go to PA!" We changed him into it first thing Friday evening and then he wore it even to bed until we left. We would fly him around the house with his arms out in front. Superman to the rescue!
Jer didn't want me to sleep with him. Only wanted to sleep with Grandma and Grandpa! Grandpa tells the BEST stories! I stayed up to ungodly hours of Friday night talking with RKC (AKA Ryan, Kate & CR). Lots of fun! Jer is battling a cough and slept for half the drive up to PA, which was good. Too bad we couldn't have done that on the drive back down. Unfortunately the gas tank sensor on the car needs work because we ran out of gas when it showed 3/4 tank. Fortunately AAA got gas to us in record time. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that happened. Roads were absolutely fine as long as they were plowed. Soon after passing the snowplows we gently went into the grass with a leisurely 5 mph slide to dodge a couple cars getting into an accident ahead of us on I-70. Had fun getting out! Jer was a champ the whole way! Heck, he was in awesome form the entire visit! The puppy was quiet the whole ride back down here! If you see Jer, ask him about tow-trucks, as he thought it was a thrill to see a tow-truck latch onto our car to pull us. Definitely going to fix the gas guage, and it will probably be covered by the warranty! Got a cute couple shots of Jer, in his Superman outfit, holding his baby cousin CR! Snow canceled several churches and AWANA on Sunday. Sissy Virginians - scared of a little snow! Thank you Virginians, 'cuz I got to come straight home to C! ;^)
And whew! There you have it, an insanely consolidated trip! I was exhausted by the time I got back home. Fortunately I have the greatest wife in the world, and she had dinner ready, and even sent me up for a shower while she did dishes. How come Proverbs 31 never mentioned that in its list of praise-worth wifely stuff? Maybe because I was tired, but that felt like one of the nicest things in the world she could have done!
Ok, ok. I'll stop there with the mushy stuff.
Jeremiah absolutely fell in love with his Superman outfit! I had been giving teasers for the last couple visits - "Grandma has a Superman outfit for you when we go to PA!" We changed him into it first thing Friday evening and then he wore it even to bed until we left. We would fly him around the house with his arms out in front. Superman to the rescue!
Jer didn't want me to sleep with him. Only wanted to sleep with Grandma and Grandpa! Grandpa tells the BEST stories! I stayed up to ungodly hours of Friday night talking with RKC (AKA Ryan, Kate & CR). Lots of fun! Jer is battling a cough and slept for half the drive up to PA, which was good. Too bad we couldn't have done that on the drive back down. Unfortunately the gas tank sensor on the car needs work because we ran out of gas when it showed 3/4 tank. Fortunately AAA got gas to us in record time. Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing that happened. Roads were absolutely fine as long as they were plowed. Soon after passing the snowplows we gently went into the grass with a leisurely 5 mph slide to dodge a couple cars getting into an accident ahead of us on I-70. Had fun getting out! Jer was a champ the whole way! Heck, he was in awesome form the entire visit! The puppy was quiet the whole ride back down here! If you see Jer, ask him about tow-trucks, as he thought it was a thrill to see a tow-truck latch onto our car to pull us. Definitely going to fix the gas guage, and it will probably be covered by the warranty! Got a cute couple shots of Jer, in his Superman outfit, holding his baby cousin CR! Snow canceled several churches and AWANA on Sunday. Sissy Virginians - scared of a little snow! Thank you Virginians, 'cuz I got to come straight home to C! ;^)
And whew! There you have it, an insanely consolidated trip! I was exhausted by the time I got back home. Fortunately I have the greatest wife in the world, and she had dinner ready, and even sent me up for a shower while she did dishes. How come Proverbs 31 never mentioned that in its list of praise-worth wifely stuff? Maybe because I was tired, but that felt like one of the nicest things in the world she could have done!
Ok, ok. I'll stop there with the mushy stuff.
A Great Writer
There was once a young man who, in his youth, professed
his desire to become a great writer.
When asked to define "great" he said, "I want to write
stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people
will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will
make them scream, cry, and howl in pain and anger!"
He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages.
(Yeah, I know. If you've got email you've probably heard this one before, but it made me laugh again! Thanks Beth!)
his desire to become a great writer.
When asked to define "great" he said, "I want to write
stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people
will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will
make them scream, cry, and howl in pain and anger!"
He now works for Microsoft, writing error messages.
(Yeah, I know. If you've got email you've probably heard this one before, but it made me laugh again! Thanks Beth!)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Not working!
Yup, the office is without power, so I'm out of work and sent home. Perfect chance to go to lunch with my love-schmuffin! (Mo, that's particularly for you!)
Big question: how was the concert? It went REALLY well! Pastor Ray says that he's discovered that my secret ambition in life is to be a backup singer for a rock band! Apparently he got a couple good shots while I was on stage with some guys singing along with Heavenly Hills (More commonly known as "Beverly Hills"). It was snug getting everyone into the room because we think that almost 300 people came for the concert! Since the room only held 200 with 170 seats, we were at standing room only, and part way through all the teens came up and gathered right around the stage for some heavy jamming!
Then came Saturday - LOTS of clogging at PDD! As always our feet were sore and our spirits light! We had a great time at dinner at Missy's house. After a week of no clogging because of weather, we were very fresh and ready to dance! Matt Sexton is SUCH and awesome teacher!
Then Sunday was a bit different, again because of weather. We couldn't have church, so everyone went out to Shoney's for church and breakfast. C&I sat with Nick and Lindsey and their BRAND NEW baby! It was their first time out, and we had a great time visiting with them, and the "service" was very encouraging to me to continue in seeking out how God would have us all, and me in particular, reach out to the community.
G2G I'm afraid. Adios!
Oh, and two new webcomics I'm following:
Order of the Stick
Erfworld
Big question: how was the concert? It went REALLY well! Pastor Ray says that he's discovered that my secret ambition in life is to be a backup singer for a rock band! Apparently he got a couple good shots while I was on stage with some guys singing along with Heavenly Hills (More commonly known as "Beverly Hills"). It was snug getting everyone into the room because we think that almost 300 people came for the concert! Since the room only held 200 with 170 seats, we were at standing room only, and part way through all the teens came up and gathered right around the stage for some heavy jamming!
Then came Saturday - LOTS of clogging at PDD! As always our feet were sore and our spirits light! We had a great time at dinner at Missy's house. After a week of no clogging because of weather, we were very fresh and ready to dance! Matt Sexton is SUCH and awesome teacher!
Then Sunday was a bit different, again because of weather. We couldn't have church, so everyone went out to Shoney's for church and breakfast. C&I sat with Nick and Lindsey and their BRAND NEW baby! It was their first time out, and we had a great time visiting with them, and the "service" was very encouraging to me to continue in seeking out how God would have us all, and me in particular, reach out to the community.
G2G I'm afraid. Adios!
Oh, and two new webcomics I'm following:
Order of the Stick
Erfworld
Friday, February 16, 2007
Don't Come! Don't Come!
Just kidding! Just kidding!
I just talked with SB and found out that there are now more tickets sold than we officially have room to seat people! Looks like we'll be going with standing-room only sort of concert!
Woot!
I just talked with SB and found out that there are now more tickets sold than we officially have room to seat people! Looks like we'll be going with standing-room only sort of concert!
Woot!
Thursday, February 15, 2007
ApologetiX - everyone come!
We just had a scare - Loudoun County schools decided to close schools tomorrow too! Of all the stupid things! The roads are completely driveable! And because the school is closed they won't let us hold the concert at the school auditorium!
Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
And then SB got us a place over at the old elementary school - the Round Hill Center!
Whew!
A lot of the things that we would have had to set up at the newer school we won't have to worry about at the Center! And because there's now nothing scheduled to be happening right before the concert, there's time to do all sorts of things like sound checks! Not to mention that we won't have to hurry up the entire setup in only an hour. Thank God!!! I didn't hear about it until we already knew we could use the Round Hill Center, but I'm sure that SB was more than a little alarmed when the news first came through!
The only drawback is that the space is smaller than the gym we were going to use at the school. With the tickets we have sold, and the people who we know are going to be coming (our church and some local youth groups) we're getting close to capacity.
So if you want to come, let me know AHEAD of time! Not only can I get you tickets for $10 (they're $15 at the door) it may turn out that people getting tickets at the door may have to sit in the nose-bleed section. And you will SO want to come to this, because I'll be the emcee! That, and some band named ApologetiX is playing. :^)
God's been so good on this!
Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
And then SB got us a place over at the old elementary school - the Round Hill Center!
Whew!
A lot of the things that we would have had to set up at the newer school we won't have to worry about at the Center! And because there's now nothing scheduled to be happening right before the concert, there's time to do all sorts of things like sound checks! Not to mention that we won't have to hurry up the entire setup in only an hour. Thank God!!! I didn't hear about it until we already knew we could use the Round Hill Center, but I'm sure that SB was more than a little alarmed when the news first came through!
The only drawback is that the space is smaller than the gym we were going to use at the school. With the tickets we have sold, and the people who we know are going to be coming (our church and some local youth groups) we're getting close to capacity.
So if you want to come, let me know AHEAD of time! Not only can I get you tickets for $10 (they're $15 at the door) it may turn out that people getting tickets at the door may have to sit in the nose-bleed section. And you will SO want to come to this, because I'll be the emcee! That, and some band named ApologetiX is playing. :^)
God's been so good on this!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Microchurches to Megachurches
I've been reading Ed Veith's blog (Cranach at World Magazine's Blog) recently, and while I'm normally turned off by message-board arguments, the commenters on his blog keep it pretty on-topic and even have debates that deal with each other's replies! A true rarity in message boards!
Anyway, he had a couple posts on mega-churches, giga-churches and (he's hoping he is the first to publicly use this term) tera-churches. McLean Bible Church is planning on starting nine "satellite" church around the Beltway that will have the preaching from the main church broadcast for the satellite services! With their current church pushing the 10,000 mark, they could be looking at 100,000 people per Sunday! Ain't technology sometin'!?
The debate: are churches over a certain size "too big"? Most comments went with 100-200 being the right size since they thought that any more would result in the pastor not being able to personally know and interact with all the members.
Any thoughts anyone?
I disagreed with the general consensus, but I can't say I've ever done more than attend a few services at McLean, and that's about all the direct exposure I've had to a megachurch. Right off the bat, the thing I noticed that it was very easy to get in and out without having personal contact with anyone. Once or twice I had some introductions to people around me, but beyond that I was in and out without being personally engaged. That's the bad thing, and I think that's an issue with all megachurches. (To be honest, in&out was also my goal.)
On the flip side, there were a LOT of very good things! The issue with a pastor not reaching all the congregation personally is a bit of nonsense. The person preaching may not greet you specifically, but there are numerous other pastors and a TON of lay-leaders. All the new people and everyone with questions were invited over to a room with snacks and juice where there were a dozen or more outgoing and presumably trained people to invite you to attend, find out where you were spiritually, lead you to the Lord, see if there was anything the church could help with, plug you in to small group studies, and hook you up with other church members who live around you. And every time I saw the room, it was filled with people! I'm sure there were repeats, but still, that's a sort of outreach that should be lauded and emulated. It's also something that, while not impossible, is certainly more difficult with a smaller congregation of only 100-200.
And they have a VERY talented praise and worship band, they have some excellent main pastors, they have dozens of ministries to help people in the community (food bank, day care, job center/training, etc.), they hold concerts to attract people in, and they advertise publicly with TV, radio, print, and web. Much of this is extremely difficult for a smaller congregation.
I like my church very much and vastly prefer it over McLean, but is McLean too big or less Biblical than my church because their pastor would never invite me to come lift weights at his house? One thing we might look at is which church is bringing the most people to Christ. McLean? Hundreds a year. WLCC? So far none in service and only a couple by individuals. Does this mean WLCC stinks and should go join McLean? No! As Paul said, some sow, some water, but God made it grow. One lays a foundation and another builds. We are all members of the same body; can the left ventricle say to the carotid artery "I don't need you"?
All churches should work to build up the areas in which they might be lacking, but to say that a big church is wrong just because they're big or to say that a small church must be wrong because they aren't adding members is nonsense, arrogance, and unBiblical.
Anyway, he had a couple posts on mega-churches, giga-churches and (he's hoping he is the first to publicly use this term) tera-churches. McLean Bible Church is planning on starting nine "satellite" church around the Beltway that will have the preaching from the main church broadcast for the satellite services! With their current church pushing the 10,000 mark, they could be looking at 100,000 people per Sunday! Ain't technology sometin'!?
The debate: are churches over a certain size "too big"? Most comments went with 100-200 being the right size since they thought that any more would result in the pastor not being able to personally know and interact with all the members.
Any thoughts anyone?
I disagreed with the general consensus, but I can't say I've ever done more than attend a few services at McLean, and that's about all the direct exposure I've had to a megachurch. Right off the bat, the thing I noticed that it was very easy to get in and out without having personal contact with anyone. Once or twice I had some introductions to people around me, but beyond that I was in and out without being personally engaged. That's the bad thing, and I think that's an issue with all megachurches. (To be honest, in&out was also my goal.)
On the flip side, there were a LOT of very good things! The issue with a pastor not reaching all the congregation personally is a bit of nonsense. The person preaching may not greet you specifically, but there are numerous other pastors and a TON of lay-leaders. All the new people and everyone with questions were invited over to a room with snacks and juice where there were a dozen or more outgoing and presumably trained people to invite you to attend, find out where you were spiritually, lead you to the Lord, see if there was anything the church could help with, plug you in to small group studies, and hook you up with other church members who live around you. And every time I saw the room, it was filled with people! I'm sure there were repeats, but still, that's a sort of outreach that should be lauded and emulated. It's also something that, while not impossible, is certainly more difficult with a smaller congregation of only 100-200.
And they have a VERY talented praise and worship band, they have some excellent main pastors, they have dozens of ministries to help people in the community (food bank, day care, job center/training, etc.), they hold concerts to attract people in, and they advertise publicly with TV, radio, print, and web. Much of this is extremely difficult for a smaller congregation.
I like my church very much and vastly prefer it over McLean, but is McLean too big or less Biblical than my church because their pastor would never invite me to come lift weights at his house? One thing we might look at is which church is bringing the most people to Christ. McLean? Hundreds a year. WLCC? So far none in service and only a couple by individuals. Does this mean WLCC stinks and should go join McLean? No! As Paul said, some sow, some water, but God made it grow. One lays a foundation and another builds. We are all members of the same body; can the left ventricle say to the carotid artery "I don't need you"?
All churches should work to build up the areas in which they might be lacking, but to say that a big church is wrong just because they're big or to say that a small church must be wrong because they aren't adding members is nonsense, arrogance, and unBiblical.
I'm Thinking - be very frightened!
Once more, I got sucked over to Cranach and started thinking. That thinking stuff is going to get me into trouble one of these days! I started reading some of the comments about Republicans vs. Democrats and how Christians can support one over the other, or how we can support one at all. Opinions flew all over, but ran into two main themes. First was that the Republicans aren't perfect, but they're the best we have so let's support them. And second was that they're a bunch of power hungry people who don't care about anyone but themselves. Neither position is so completely true that no one can do anything but agree, but they both have very good support.
As bad as the Republican party may be (and is!!) it's a difficult thing to make a decision to cut them off.
As Christians we are called to bless others materially and spiritually, both in the short term and long term. Over the last 40 years (roughly), the Rep. party has most consistently been the major party that helps uphold the values of Christians and is most valid in "helping" the people of this country, rich and poor. I may get arguments on details, and I'll be the first to admit that they've failed pretty miserably in some areas, but I'm talking over-all. Today though, they're almost as bad as the Democratic party. Maybe not completely, but the broad-stroke patterns of the two parties are increasingly similar. What then is a Christian to do?
Reform the party? Start a new party? Duck out of the political struggle completely? Just stick with the party that's the "lesser of two evils" (LOTE) and shrug off the evils of the party by saying the others are worse? Is there an option other than these?
I don't agree with the ducking out part, though many people are called to deal with areas other than politics. But just sticking with the LOTE party is at best a temporary measure. Assuming the party continues to degrade by spiritual and stupidity gauges, there eventually comes a point where one has to give up all pretense of having standards or has to bail.
What then? Is the Republican party too far gone to be brought back to the point of being a valid party for Christians to support? I happen to suspect so, and I'm increasingly supporting whichever candidate is best regardless of party. (Go Constitutional Party and Independents!)
If you're for reforming the Rep party, then it's just a question of tactics - boycott the party until they return to positions which you want, or participate with them but try to change the party direction through argument.
But whichever way a person goes, I don't see that it's a choice that's mandated by Christian principles. Supporting a person who supports abortion might be an anti-Biblical action, but supporting a person who, though personally against abortion, is part of a party that supports abortion is certainly less clear. I think it would be fine for a Christian to support such a person (like ex-Senator Santorum). If the circumstances were that supporting such a person wound up supporting abortion, I can see Biblical problems, but so far that's not the case. (as far as I can tell)
Point to this post? Not really. Just a sounding board. If I'm totally missing something or have got something really wrong, I would love to know. Other than that, you can all rest easily knowing that I'll probably stop thinking pretty soon on my own. No need to call out the ninja assassins.
As bad as the Republican party may be (and is!!) it's a difficult thing to make a decision to cut them off.
As Christians we are called to bless others materially and spiritually, both in the short term and long term. Over the last 40 years (roughly), the Rep. party has most consistently been the major party that helps uphold the values of Christians and is most valid in "helping" the people of this country, rich and poor. I may get arguments on details, and I'll be the first to admit that they've failed pretty miserably in some areas, but I'm talking over-all. Today though, they're almost as bad as the Democratic party. Maybe not completely, but the broad-stroke patterns of the two parties are increasingly similar. What then is a Christian to do?
Reform the party? Start a new party? Duck out of the political struggle completely? Just stick with the party that's the "lesser of two evils" (LOTE) and shrug off the evils of the party by saying the others are worse? Is there an option other than these?
I don't agree with the ducking out part, though many people are called to deal with areas other than politics. But just sticking with the LOTE party is at best a temporary measure. Assuming the party continues to degrade by spiritual and stupidity gauges, there eventually comes a point where one has to give up all pretense of having standards or has to bail.
What then? Is the Republican party too far gone to be brought back to the point of being a valid party for Christians to support? I happen to suspect so, and I'm increasingly supporting whichever candidate is best regardless of party. (Go Constitutional Party and Independents!)
If you're for reforming the Rep party, then it's just a question of tactics - boycott the party until they return to positions which you want, or participate with them but try to change the party direction through argument.
But whichever way a person goes, I don't see that it's a choice that's mandated by Christian principles. Supporting a person who supports abortion might be an anti-Biblical action, but supporting a person who, though personally against abortion, is part of a party that supports abortion is certainly less clear. I think it would be fine for a Christian to support such a person (like ex-Senator Santorum). If the circumstances were that supporting such a person wound up supporting abortion, I can see Biblical problems, but so far that's not the case. (as far as I can tell)
Point to this post? Not really. Just a sounding board. If I'm totally missing something or have got something really wrong, I would love to know. Other than that, you can all rest easily knowing that I'll probably stop thinking pretty soon on my own. No need to call out the ninja assassins.
Guess What! God is Faithful!
*gasp* What a shock! Who'da thunk it!
(That was sarcasm for anyone who missed it. :^)
Thursday night we had a church meeting to cover more details for the ApologetiX concert, and MC said that he was looking to do something similar to what we had done at Giant last week, only at Walmart. At Giant it was freezing cold, no one wanted posters or wanted to talk, and there weren't very many people. MC said he would bring a tent booth, have helium balloons, candy, his dog, and a sign-up sheet for people to have a chance to win some free tickets. What was my first thought? Oh no, we'll go to all that work, hand out nothing, sell nothing, freeze, and be all bummed at the end of the day.
Obviously, my faith isn't particularly strong. Thank goodness that MC's was!
I went over at 10:00 to set up and hand out posters for two hours, and wound up handing out almost 200 myself! MC's dog, Billy, had a sandwich board on and a poster hanging from his collar saying "Dude! Go see ApologetiX!", and was a huge draw! MC would talk with people, explain about our church and the concert, and had several dozen people say that they would definitely go to the concert, and even a few who said they already had tickets to go!
I noticed something that he was doing that seemed to catch people's interest. I, of little faith, had been handing posters out with an opening line of "Hi, we're having a concert Friday with ApologetiX," and if they slowed down, then I would explain that it's a Christian concert, our church is putting it on, and about the band ApologetiX. I imagined that people would be more interested in the word "concert" and would be turned off by the phrase "Christian concert". But MC's opening line was "Christian concert" and after a while it dawned on me that even if it did turn people off, we ought to be stating the fact so that even if they didn't stop they would at least know that Christians were active here. So I switched phrases.
Instead of handing out to half of the people, I started handing out to 3/4 of them! People would stop and ask "A Christian concert?" I started having conversations about our church and answering questions about what we're like and where we are located. People would come over when they just overheard me talk to someone else. All together, from 10:00 to 5:00 we handed out over 750 posters! And to top it all of, on Sunday there was someone who came to church because of us handing out posters at Giant. The freezing-cold time that I thought had been fruitless did have some visible fruit!
This has been an excellent reminder and encouragement to trust more steadily and expect more things of God. If we have faith in God, won't that faith be expressed in a true expectation that God will move?! And from things others have said, I'm not the only person being encouraged by what God's doing here!
A Side Note:
Lly and DC were manning the booth while I was there. Lly's 16, black, and pretty. There were two types of people that went to the booth - people that MC and I shoveled over, and young guys who went over on their own! As I could see across the front of the store, sometimes she and DC would be dancing to the songs, and she would have been invited up to dance on stage at any dance club. I couldn't help but think, "She's doing those moves looking hip and cool, if I tried them I'd look like the biggest dweeb and dork in creation!
(That was sarcasm for anyone who missed it. :^)
Thursday night we had a church meeting to cover more details for the ApologetiX concert, and MC said that he was looking to do something similar to what we had done at Giant last week, only at Walmart. At Giant it was freezing cold, no one wanted posters or wanted to talk, and there weren't very many people. MC said he would bring a tent booth, have helium balloons, candy, his dog, and a sign-up sheet for people to have a chance to win some free tickets. What was my first thought? Oh no, we'll go to all that work, hand out nothing, sell nothing, freeze, and be all bummed at the end of the day.
Obviously, my faith isn't particularly strong. Thank goodness that MC's was!
I went over at 10:00 to set up and hand out posters for two hours, and wound up handing out almost 200 myself! MC's dog, Billy, had a sandwich board on and a poster hanging from his collar saying "Dude! Go see ApologetiX!", and was a huge draw! MC would talk with people, explain about our church and the concert, and had several dozen people say that they would definitely go to the concert, and even a few who said they already had tickets to go!
I noticed something that he was doing that seemed to catch people's interest. I, of little faith, had been handing posters out with an opening line of "Hi, we're having a concert Friday with ApologetiX," and if they slowed down, then I would explain that it's a Christian concert, our church is putting it on, and about the band ApologetiX. I imagined that people would be more interested in the word "concert" and would be turned off by the phrase "Christian concert". But MC's opening line was "Christian concert" and after a while it dawned on me that even if it did turn people off, we ought to be stating the fact so that even if they didn't stop they would at least know that Christians were active here. So I switched phrases.
Instead of handing out to half of the people, I started handing out to 3/4 of them! People would stop and ask "A Christian concert?" I started having conversations about our church and answering questions about what we're like and where we are located. People would come over when they just overheard me talk to someone else. All together, from 10:00 to 5:00 we handed out over 750 posters! And to top it all of, on Sunday there was someone who came to church because of us handing out posters at Giant. The freezing-cold time that I thought had been fruitless did have some visible fruit!
This has been an excellent reminder and encouragement to trust more steadily and expect more things of God. If we have faith in God, won't that faith be expressed in a true expectation that God will move?! And from things others have said, I'm not the only person being encouraged by what God's doing here!
A Side Note:
Lly and DC were manning the booth while I was there. Lly's 16, black, and pretty. There were two types of people that went to the booth - people that MC and I shoveled over, and young guys who went over on their own! As I could see across the front of the store, sometimes she and DC would be dancing to the songs, and she would have been invited up to dance on stage at any dance club. I couldn't help but think, "She's doing those moves looking hip and cool, if I tried them I'd look like the biggest dweeb and dork in creation!
Monday, February 12, 2007
Love-Hate relationship with Monday
Some people would say that there's nothing to love about Monday, so how can you have a love-hate relationship? Well, I've found a way! C works the evening shift most Mondays, and once a week I can afford to come in late to work, especially since I can work later into the evening. So even though it's a back-to-work day, it's still quite nice because we get to lounge around. I LIKE Mondays!
But finally comes that time when we absolutely have to get going. That's when the big wrestling match comes into play.
The side of work is offering: Pull out the work clothes. Gather up the odds and ends needed for work and errands. Go out in the cold. Spend hours away from the wife. Ick!
The other side plays dirty by offering: Warm bed. And/Or a hot cup of tea. Hugs and kisses. ... Did I mention hugs and kisses?
I HATE Mondays!
But finally comes that time when we absolutely have to get going. That's when the big wrestling match comes into play.
The side of work is offering: Pull out the work clothes. Gather up the odds and ends needed for work and errands. Go out in the cold. Spend hours away from the wife. Ick!
The other side plays dirty by offering: Warm bed. And/Or a hot cup of tea. Hugs and kisses. ... Did I mention hugs and kisses?
I HATE Mondays!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Pray for Opportunities
After DB talked in church about how God was working on him (see story here) I was pushed to start asking for God to bring chances to witness in some way, and that he would help with strength and boldness to follow through. That, in particular, isn't something that's a regular thing for me to pray about, but it should be one of the main things that every Christian should pray for. God's really good at answering prayers like that. He even made it nice and easy for me, about as easy as could be.
My "kinder and gentler" manager was done for the day and heading out when he stopped by my cube to, out of the blue, ask me a couple questions about stories in the OT - all of which I had recently read over with C as we've been working our way through the Bible. When it comes to sharing faith, it doesn't get any easier than that! I guess God knew He'd have to start me out on apple puree baby food. As soon as Kinder-n-Gentler asked me, the first thing that popped into my head was "Well, here's your prayer being answered!" We wound up talking about some of the stories - Abraham, Lot, etc. for ten minutes before he took off.
He was the next-to-last person with whom I expected to have that sort of conversation. It's not exactly along the lines of leading someone through the Sinners Prayer, but hey, God can get me there!
My "kinder and gentler" manager was done for the day and heading out when he stopped by my cube to, out of the blue, ask me a couple questions about stories in the OT - all of which I had recently read over with C as we've been working our way through the Bible. When it comes to sharing faith, it doesn't get any easier than that! I guess God knew He'd have to start me out on apple puree baby food. As soon as Kinder-n-Gentler asked me, the first thing that popped into my head was "Well, here's your prayer being answered!" We wound up talking about some of the stories - Abraham, Lot, etc. for ten minutes before he took off.
He was the next-to-last person with whom I expected to have that sort of conversation. It's not exactly along the lines of leading someone through the Sinners Prayer, but hey, God can get me there!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Wedding Pictures!
Ok, the wedding pictures from our official photographer (that you George!!!) are now available on the Internet. Well, at least a number of them are - we didn't bother putting them all up there since there are over 2600!!! But there's a nice sampling of them along with the pictures from friends and family. Check them out!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmcg.wedding
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmcg.wedding
The Illusionist
The day after this movie came out, I got a call from my mom telling me that I'd love this movie - intrigue, romance, suspense, how'd-he-do-it! Well, we didn't get around to it right away, but last Monday we finally watched it.
Excellent movie!! I love to know the ending ahead of time, but other people don't and I don't want to spoil it for them, so I'll just say that you'll LOVE the twists and turns throughout the movie, and the last half hour is one, big, solid HOW'S-THIS-GOING-TO-TURN-OUT!?!?!?! I can SO recommend this movie! We curled up together with some chips and hot tea and totally loved it!
I'm a definite "happy ending" type of person, so I'll give a slight spoiler to others like me who might get down part way through - even though someone dies during the movie, the ending isn't sad or bittersweet, so stick with it!
Excellent movie!! I love to know the ending ahead of time, but other people don't and I don't want to spoil it for them, so I'll just say that you'll LOVE the twists and turns throughout the movie, and the last half hour is one, big, solid HOW'S-THIS-GOING-TO-TURN-OUT!?!?!?! I can SO recommend this movie! We curled up together with some chips and hot tea and totally loved it!
I'm a definite "happy ending" type of person, so I'll give a slight spoiler to others like me who might get down part way through - even though someone dies during the movie, the ending isn't sad or bittersweet, so stick with it!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Really good church service
Starting this off with a joke that I got from another online comic. It's a dating comic strip, and it had a couple ones I thought to be really good. I'm sure that ensures no one else will agree, but hey, this is my blog!
-- 21st century "Checking you out" --
Guy to Girl: Don't I know you from myspace.com?
Girl to Guy: Yeah, how are you?
Guy to Girl: I'm good. You ... um ... you have Photoshop at home, don't you?
Sorry if no one else thought it was funny, but it cracked me up!
On to other thoughts: I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY enjoy being married to Charlessa!!!
Ok, now on to something else.
Our church is having an ApologetiX (www.apologetix.com) concert at our church on the 16th of February - YOU ALL NEED TO COME!!! We're hoping it'll be a great outreach to the community.
One of the things that came up in church really got me to thinking about what else the show might do. It will work on us as a church. DB is a computer geek and matches almost every possible stereotype - ran his own ISP, is a Network Admin, prefers Linux, has a dozen computers at home, and doesn't like socializing with strangers. But God laid on his heart to start this crazy idea of hosting a concert!! And now he's doing all sorts of off-the-wall stuff like handing out posters to strangers at the supermarket, selling tickets to friends and neighbors, and talking to businesses to get them to put up posters.
One way that we're alike is that the DOESN'T like to do cold introductions. But God works on him, and might even be able to work on me! He came up with the idea of asking the Purcellville Salvation Christian Shoppe to sell ApologetiX CDs and then hand out a free ticket with each purchased CD. He had already sent some posters to them, but still hated going in. Here's where I can TOTALLY identify with him!
He went in and talked with the young guy at the checkout - could you sell these CDs and tickets? The kid didn't know anything about the concert, said they couldn't do something like that, and there weren't any posters around. DB went back out to his truck thinking "Ok, well I tried. Oh well. I shouldn't have even bothered." When he got into his truck he felt that God was really prodding him to go back in and try again, but he ignored it and went to start his truck. It wouldn't start. A fairly new truck that never has troubles - it wouldn't start.
So he goes back in and ask if there's someone else he could talk to about the concert. The kid calls an older lady, another employee, but she gives him the same answer. DB heads back out to the truck. He doesn't even get to the door and God is calling him. He said it was hard even walking toward the truck. So back around he turns, back to the store.
This time he asks for the manager/owner. The kid got big eyes and ran off. This time the manager came out and DB repeated his request. This time though the answer was yes! She had been on vacation, just gotten back, hadn't gotten around to putting up the posters yet, and would love to sell CDs and tickets! She was excited about the event and thought it was a great idea!
On Saturday C&I did a stint in the cold outside Giant in Pville and handed out posters to people. VERY COLD! In an hour I only handed out maybe 15 to 20 posters, though some were to groups. I talked for longer than a sentence to only three people/groups. Had four or five rejects. All in all, not encouraging. (C&I made up for it afterwards by cuddling up with some hot chocolate) But DB just sent out an email saying that he's starting to get some tickets sold through the ApologetiX website because of what our church was doing at Giant!
I guess there's hope for me still. It was an encouragement to really get down and ask God to enable us to do things we normally can't. Start praying!
-- 21st century "Checking you out" --
Guy to Girl: Don't I know you from myspace.com?
Girl to Guy: Yeah, how are you?
Guy to Girl: I'm good. You ... um ... you have Photoshop at home, don't you?
Sorry if no one else thought it was funny, but it cracked me up!
On to other thoughts: I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY enjoy being married to Charlessa!!!
Ok, now on to something else.
Our church is having an ApologetiX (www.apologetix.com) concert at our church on the 16th of February - YOU ALL NEED TO COME!!! We're hoping it'll be a great outreach to the community.
One of the things that came up in church really got me to thinking about what else the show might do. It will work on us as a church. DB is a computer geek and matches almost every possible stereotype - ran his own ISP, is a Network Admin, prefers Linux, has a dozen computers at home, and doesn't like socializing with strangers. But God laid on his heart to start this crazy idea of hosting a concert!! And now he's doing all sorts of off-the-wall stuff like handing out posters to strangers at the supermarket, selling tickets to friends and neighbors, and talking to businesses to get them to put up posters.
One way that we're alike is that the DOESN'T like to do cold introductions. But God works on him, and might even be able to work on me! He came up with the idea of asking the Purcellville Salvation Christian Shoppe to sell ApologetiX CDs and then hand out a free ticket with each purchased CD. He had already sent some posters to them, but still hated going in. Here's where I can TOTALLY identify with him!
He went in and talked with the young guy at the checkout - could you sell these CDs and tickets? The kid didn't know anything about the concert, said they couldn't do something like that, and there weren't any posters around. DB went back out to his truck thinking "Ok, well I tried. Oh well. I shouldn't have even bothered." When he got into his truck he felt that God was really prodding him to go back in and try again, but he ignored it and went to start his truck. It wouldn't start. A fairly new truck that never has troubles - it wouldn't start.
So he goes back in and ask if there's someone else he could talk to about the concert. The kid calls an older lady, another employee, but she gives him the same answer. DB heads back out to the truck. He doesn't even get to the door and God is calling him. He said it was hard even walking toward the truck. So back around he turns, back to the store.
This time he asks for the manager/owner. The kid got big eyes and ran off. This time the manager came out and DB repeated his request. This time though the answer was yes! She had been on vacation, just gotten back, hadn't gotten around to putting up the posters yet, and would love to sell CDs and tickets! She was excited about the event and thought it was a great idea!
On Saturday C&I did a stint in the cold outside Giant in Pville and handed out posters to people. VERY COLD! In an hour I only handed out maybe 15 to 20 posters, though some were to groups. I talked for longer than a sentence to only three people/groups. Had four or five rejects. All in all, not encouraging. (C&I made up for it afterwards by cuddling up with some hot chocolate) But DB just sent out an email saying that he's starting to get some tickets sold through the ApologetiX website because of what our church was doing at Giant!
I guess there's hope for me still. It was an encouragement to really get down and ask God to enable us to do things we normally can't. Start praying!
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