No, he is not in prison... ;-)
ChristianAudio.com is giving away his "Crazy Love" audio book. http://christianaudio.com/free_download.php Use coupon code JUL2009 to get it for free...
If you don't know Francis Chan, here is a good sample of his preaching... It is light, fun, and brutal, all at the same time...
The Michael Jackson death is all the news today... It has me wondering, in the whole scheme of things, will Michael Jackson even be historically memorable?
The recording industry is pretty darn new.. The whole audio recording thing came about in 1890.. The 45 record wasn't invented until after World War 2, and prior to that, the various technologies where not nearly as popular.
So I am wondering, despite the fact that everyone knows Michael Jackson, and he is probably one of the most recognizable people in a generation, Is he really a historic figure?
I ran this question by my wife, and she argued that music changes culture, and cited the Beatles. I think a better case could be made for The Beatles being historically significant, but I don't think they changed the world with "I want to hold your hand".. As the culture changed them, the change was reflected in their music, and that music may have amplified the change that was underway...
I don't really think MJ's music had a ton of social content in it. It was good to dance to. But I don't see him impacting culture much outside of a bunch of silly teenagers running around wearing one sequined glove for a few years.. The Beatles changed and the world changed with them. Michael Jackson changed and the world laughed and cried about him.
I suspect in 150 years when they look back, The Beatles might be a small footnote, and Michael Jackson will go unmentioned.
Two of my favorite preachers tend to have very idealistic ideas about how families should run. And as far as I am concerned they are right.. Ideally, if you where to do it right the first time, that is exactly how families should be set up...
Mark Driscoll addresses the idea of stay at home dads for example:
Or Voddie Baucham's view on Public Schooling:
In both of these examples, I think that they hold up an ideal that is correct. Husbands should provide for their families. Parents should actively insure that their children are being descipled under the biblical worldview.
Now the challenge is that many of us fall short. We live in a fallen world, and we are being rescued from a fallen culture - one that doesn't necessarily prescribe to the same values as Voddie and Mark. The values being espoused should be something that we can aspire to, not something that we need to feel unchristian about because we are not fully sanctified yet. If you are 18 years old, just setting out on your own, don't go and aspire to find a Doctor wife so you can stay at home and play all day. Aspire to be a primary provider. But if you are a father of 4, and your wife has a long established career, give yourself some slack... Try to conform to the ideal as much as it is practical. Your situation isn't ideal, but few are.
Many folks tend to say "Oh, he is just too radical on that issue" and throw out the advice altogether. I do not think this is wise. When we are in less than ideal circumstances we need to understand that. We need to try to compensate for that, and when practical we ought to consider making sacrifices to get ourselves into a more ideal situation.
Here is another game.. This one requires a traveling companion who is in on the game.
When you are an airport, search for other twitter users at the same airport. Look at their tweet stream and try to ascertain where they are going. Find the appropriate gate and look for them. Once you find them Sit next to them, and watch their twitter stream on your cell phone..
Converse with your traveling companion. Whenever your target sends a tweet, try to change the topic to match their tweet. Keep doing this and see if they ever catch on or join in the conversation. If they do, try to let the conversation die until they tweet again... then repeat the process... As their flight is leaving, send them an @reply thanking them for the conversation.
If you have a long layover at an airport, do a search for that airport code and see what other twitter users may be there. If they tell twitter where they are going, there is a good chance you can find the proper gate. If they have a picture posted on their twitter profile, you will likely be able to recognize them.
From this point, there are lots of variations... You could do some digging on their website, find out as much as you can about them, the pretend to recognize them, addressing them by name, asking relevant questions about how they are doing etc... That might be a bit much...
You could take a picture of them, and post it on twitpic, with @username???? This would be a startling way to introduce yourself..
Personally I like this variation the best: Do something twitter worthy--- then when they tweet about it reply via twitter.. Bring them a cup of their favorite Starbucks drink for example - Say "this is for you", then walk off, returning to you own gate... When they tweet about it, give them an @ reply "Your welcome"
I really think that understanding common grace is vitally important to keeping a humble outlook on the world.
We did nothing to deserve to live. We did nothing to put this planet exactly the right distance from the sun to make it a comfortable temperature. We did not create an atmosphere that sustains life. We did not put the moon in orbit just the right distance way to keep the tides and the winds going. Everything that we have is an absolute gift from God. Most folks take all of this for granted. When people die, we call it a tragedy, but in truth it is a miracle that we live at all.
Once we have something, we think we deserve to have it. But if we don't deserve to exist, how can we deserve anything that we have? We don't. We need to be thankful for everything.
I see this played out in a smaller scale with the economy. The banks made a massive amount of loans. The money that was loaned out was spent - on houses, on factories, on products that those factories made... All of this spending created jobs. Turns out that the banks where not so wise to make all of those loans. The banks recognized their error, and they stopped giving out so many loans.. As a result, it is harder to build houses, build factories, and buy stuff that the factories make. Jobs are going away.. Everyone is mad at the banks. But if the banks hadn't made the loans in the first place, the jobs wouldn't have been there to lose.. We are unthankful for the blessing, taking for granted the fact that for quite some time we where able to have something that we couldn't have had, if it hadn't been for the banks.
Mark Driscoll has been getting a lot of press lately. It really annoys me how people feel absolutely fine disparaging him in their ignorance. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms that people could raise. And some folks are, but the vast majority are spouting off without bothering to watch or listen to anything that doesn't make the highlight reel.
He is getting all kinds of heat from folks because he dared to preach a series out of the Song of Solomon. Most of the critics didn't bother to watch the series. Driscoll preached the series about how a husband and wife should love one another. Yes, sex was a component, But it really was not the main focus of Driscoll's sermons.. His sermons where more about serving one another, caring for one another, protecting one another etc.
I watched the whole series. I didn't think it was his best preaching. I think some of the sermons had too narrow of a focus to keep a 13 year veteren of marriage like myself totally engaged. I found the background graphics to be distracting. There where however a few very convicting points, that have already changed the way that I treat my wife and kids.. Nobody is talking about those points.
What everyone wants to talk about is the impromtu answers that Driscoll gave to questions sent in via text message by his audience after his sermons. They watch these clips, then use them to confirm their arrogant and ignorant belief that Driscoll only wants to talk about sex. In fact he didn't pick the topic. Shouldn't a preacher be allowed to address the questions of his congregation openly and honestly?
Driscoll was actually quite upset at the content and character of the questions. He rebuked his congregation over the heart attitude that was coming through in the Q&A.. Watch --
If there was one thing that stood out about the whole series, it was that clip. And most of the critics don't even know it happened, because they are too comfortable in their arrogant ignorance to watch enough to understand the actual context and heart of the series that they are spouting off on their blogs about.
Had an interesting conversation with Nathan (5 going on 6) today. I don't remember exactly how it came about, but he does not believe that sponges live in the Ocean. I asked him why, and he said that Spongebob is make believe.
I asked him about Squidward, and Patrick, and he admitted that indeed Squid and Starfish where Sea-Dwelling creatures. But Sponges live in the sink.
I think us adults tend to make the same error quite often.. We through out the baby with the bathwater. We believe some things, and we don't believe others. Not for any solid reason either.
Discernment is a precise science.
I found the verse, plagiarized the Title from Donnie's reaction when I shared it with him, and the idea of the stock market chart from Sol.
Daddy (Me): Julia, how much did you get from the tooth fairy the other day?
(The tooth fairy visited the grandparents house where she was staying)
Julia: 1.50 in quarters.
Daddy: Quarters? I have a question. How do you think the tooth fairy flies around to all the kids all over the world weighed down by all of those quarters? Wouldn't she be too heavy to fly?
Julia thinks for a few seconds.
Julia: Well, this is just a theory, but I think she has a submarine that goes through the aquifer or the sewer carrying all the quarters from house to house. That way she doesn't have to fly so far.
My daughter is brilliant, don't you think?
