Gute Nacht. Buonas noches. Bonne nuit. Buona notte. Boa noite.
And to think he didn’t even say “Good night!”
See y’all later…I’m pooped!
Month: January 2006 (page 3 of 5)
OK, the Falcons (and the suddenly-mortal Michael Vick) had their little meltdown. Other than that, I’m not a real big NFL fan. But I thought the Colts were going to win today. And I thought Da Bears were going to win today. Turns out I was wrong on both counts. In the words of our church’s resident deputy sheriff/comedian…
I’m not taking any stock market advice from you, either!
That was after I publicly picked the Colts to win it all during this morning’s service. But I digress…
Anyway, I was on the elliptical machine at the Y when that dude in the picture made what appeared to me to be a clean interception with about 5:26 left in the game. Apparently, the game got a little more interesting after that.
But at any rate, since I don’t really have a dog in the fight anymore, and in honor of that Troy Polamalu-humuhumu-nukunuku-a-puaa–mele-kalikimaka guy and his hair, and in honor of my bud, Chad Canipe, I’m officially jumping on the Steelers’ bandwagon from here on out.
(Just hurry up and get on with the commercials…)
OK, this isn’t going to be very politically correct, but it is kind of funny! The picture above is a screen shot of a typical Blogger comment page. You know, the place where you have to decipher some sort of coded message in order to leave a comment, thanks to the stupid comment spam out there?
Anyway, the secret decoder ring message on this one reminded me of Rush Limbaugh’s very descriptive term…
hyphenated, furry-legged femgals…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course…
The Village Vanguard was – and is – one of the hotbeds of jazz. The funky little 123-seat triangular venue has become a mecca for musicians and music lovers alike. And some reviewers/listeners think that John Coltrane’s 1961 stint at the Vanguard represents the best live jazz ever recorded. It ain’t too bad for a Sunday night unwind…
Dick Staub said this on his site recently…
People are talking about spiritual things. Gallup says in America alone, 82% of us are on a spiritual journey; 52% have talked about it in the previous 24 hours. The same pattern can be seen around the world. Ever notice that Jesus tapped into the conversation in a variety of ways?
He goes on to show that Jesus addressed and carried the spiritual conversations of His day in different ways, at different times, with different people.
It really seems to be true: people all around us are engaging in spiritual – though not necessarily Christian, or even religious – conversations. But just as in Jesus’ time, the key to furthering the conversation is to listen when people talk and meet people where they are. If it worked for Jesus, why are we so interested in doing something else?
How are you engaging in the spiritual conversations of those around you?
(NOTE: If you’re (a) not a Southern Baptist, or (b) don’t give a rip about SBC goings-on, please accept my apology in advance. Feel free to proceed on to the next post…nothing to see here. Thank you.)
In light of the recent and ongoing “business” involving our International Mission Board, I found this Baptist Press article interesting. And maybe somewhat disturbing. It’s this line that makes me go “hmmmmmm…”
In reality, sober involvement with these issues holds promise for greater purity of fellowship and purpose and promotes a stronger, more singular witness to the world.
Nettles lists nine “tracks on which the Southern Baptist reformation must move forward.” Here are the nine tracks (Some cursory comments by yours truly may follow at a later time today.)
— Baptists must remember the depths to which they had sunk before the conservative resurgence. The SBC must not fall into a lethargic holding pattern of premature satisfaction, Nettles writes, but must remember that the church is to be always bringing itself into line with Scripture.
— Baptists must hold fast in teaching and living out their confession of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Nettles writes, recounting how Baptists have been a confessional people since their beginning at the outset of the 17th century.
— Baptists must build their churches with doctrinally informed expository preaching as the cornerstone. Nettles notes that the embrace of inerrancy does not necessarily guarantee biblical preaching.
— Baptists must recover the work of evangelism that is biblically authentic. Nettles spends two chapters showing the dangers of pragmatic, formulaic approaches to evangelism and calls for the proclamation of a full-orbed message that exposes in sinners the depth and terminal nature of their illness and sets forth the healing balm of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. A fully biblical approach to evangelism will produce regenerate church members, versus formulaic approaches to evangelism that offer cheap grace, he writes.
— Baptists must recapture the complementarity of Law and Gospel. That is, Baptists must return to preaching the Law to show sinners their ruined state and drive them to Christ, Nettles writes. There is a fundamental relationship between Law and Gospel that must be part of the preaching and teaching within the SBC, he writes, noting that Baptists throughout their history have preached with a careful articulation of both.
— Baptists must recover a grace-centered theology. Nettles calls Baptists to return to the biblical message that salvation is completely a sovereign work of God that involves all three persons of the Trinity.
— Baptists must, in their proclamation and teaching, clearly articulate a fully Trinitarian doctrine of divine revelation and salvation. A major aspect of this, Nettles writes, is a commitment to a Christ-centered hermeneutic — interpreting the entire Bible in terms of redemption that consummates in Christ Himself.
— Baptists must build their doctrine of the church upon the whole witness of Scripture. Nettles calls on Baptists to return to their foundational principle of regenerate church membership that includes calling doctrinally astute pastors to teach and lead. Baptists also rediscover biblical church discipline to uphold a biblical standard of holiness within the body, he writes.
— Baptists must recover a theology that will allow them to develop a comprehensive Christian worldview not only philosophically but in personal spirituality. Contemporary Baptists must have their minds renewed by Scripture and be equipped to view all of life through its lens, Nettles writes.
According to the Washington Post, a newspaper in Seattle is limiting the use of the term “Redskins” when the NFL team from our nation’s capital comes to Seattle for their playoff game against the Seahawks.
The Post story includes this paragraph…
To avoid insulting native American heritage, the Seattle Times decided to limit severely the use of the term Redskins in the paper — even if a team with that name will dominate news coverage this week. The Times will not use the moniker in headlines or captions. Reporters can use it only once, as a first reference, in all stories. The Redskins will be referred to almost exclusively as Washington — which could get a little confusing for local readers who also live in that state.
Well, I just want to go on record and say that even though I am not a Redskins fan, I am a native American (born and bred in the good ol’ US of A…native American, right?) and their team name does not offend me in any way.
And by the way, it’s only three weeks or so until the Atlanta Braves’ pitchers and catchers report to spring training…time to fire up the Tomahawk Chop, just because…
The dliemma we face is…
What do I need to read?
Most of us do pretty well with books in our field. For instance, we preacher-types usually hang out with enough other preacher-types to catch the buzz on what’s worth reading and what’s worth leaving alone in the theological/minstry aisle. Same with other fields. But if we’re going to read widely and effectively, sometimes we need some help.
The Innovation Network has started the Innovation Book club. You know the drill…read, think, discuss…you may just read and think…but here’s a pretty good place to get started if you haven’t developed your reading plan for ’06.
Thanks to my buddy Phil Gerbyshak (Phil, won’t you be my buddy?) for the link.
The folks over at iSerenity understand we have different environments that make our work/thinking/whatever more effective. So they’ve created some pretty cool environments. Go over there and find one you like…
Thanks to Pencil Revolution for the link
Hindsights:
#10: Live off your parents as long as possible.
#9 Pursue joy, not happiness.
#8: Challenge the known and embrace the unknown.
#7: Learn to speak a foreign language, play a musical instrument, and play non-contact sports.
#6: Continue to learn.
#5: Learn to like yourself or change yourself until you can like yourself.
#4: Don’t get married too soon.
#3: Play to win and win to play.
#2: Obey the absolutes.
#1: Enjoy your family and friends before they are gone.