June 2008 Archives

According to a CNN report, high gas prices are hurting Nevada's brothel business. According to Geoffrey Arnold, president of the Nevada Brothel Owners' Association--and isn't Momma Arnold proud of her son's accomplishments--truckers account for 75% of of the business at Nevada's rural brothels. Some brothels are giving out gas cards to patrons, and have reduced prices.

But only 16 of the state's 28 legal brothels are located in rural areas. The others, located in cities, cater to tourists and conventions, and their business has increased this year.

So mixed signals at the intersection of the economy and religion.

Here's an email Bill Gates wrote, expressing his frustration with the lack of usability in their website as he attempted to download a program. It's an actual email he wrote. If Gates, a genius, is frustrated with MS products...I'm sure glad for my 20 years using a Mac. And this year, it is, indeed, 20 years since I got that original Mac II, with 2 gigs of RAM and a 40 megabyte hard drive.

I know this subject is saturated with emotion, but I agree with the Supreme Court's decision to not allow the execution of child rapists. Yes, it's a horrible, horrible crime, and it seems somehow uncompassionate to not want child rapists to fry. But if we're going to have the death penalty, then I'm a life-for-a-life guy.

Tough issue, though. I could be persuaded otherwise, if I believed in the death penalty (which I don't, for biblical reasons).

Glenn Flint, a good friend and my former worship pastor, is doing a patriotic concert this Friday night in Angola at the Buck Lake Ranch, which I understand is a pretty famous place. Pam and I are taking my parents, who love patriotic music and love Glenn. When they were pastoring in Lakeville, Ind., Glenn and Jean came up twice to do concerts.

In 1999 and 2000, Glenn was worship pastor at Anchor. We always had a lot of fun at practice on Thursday nights. Before that, I sometimes played keyboard at Emmanuel Community Church when Glenn was the music minister there (1990-1999, or something like that). He's also a gifted children's worker, able to just let loose and be crazy around kids. Now he's the Minister of Music at Fellowship Missionary Church in Angola.

Glenn has a powerful, powerful voice, with a range as wide as whatever cliche you can think of, like the Grand Canyon. I'm really looking forward to hearing Glenn. If you're interested: 7 pm Friday, June 27, at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Ind.

Glenn says of the concert: "I'm looking forward to a flag waving evening emphasizing God, Country, Patriotism and encouragement of our troops."

The PGA, golf tournaments, and sports networks are lamenting the absence of Tiger Woods for the rest of 2008. Everyone predicts that the number of people watching golf will plummet.

It's like when your pastor takes the week off, and you schedule a guest speaker. The less-than-faithful stay home.

I read last week about a megachurch pastor who, on his blog, reamed his parishioners for not attending when he took the week off and a guest speaker (a really high-calibre minister, no less) filled the pulpit. The pastor, Brian Jones, noting the "pitiful" attendance, wrote:

Many leaders at [our church] wonder if people chose not to come because you knew I was not speaking.

Please understand that if that turns out to be the case, honest to God you won’t hear me speak until 2009. I will hire first-year Bible college interns who can barely chew gum and talk at the same time to rotate the speaking responsibilities for the next 6.5 months.

I will not have any part in helping build a church around a person, personality, or particular style of preaching.

The issue here is discipleship. Are we trying to put on a “religious show” where people will attend based on the person presenting God’s Word, or are we fashioning a gates-of-hell-storming-community of disciples?

Wow, there's a gutsy pastor. And now, to draw a parallel to the truly significant world of sports--what does this say about golf "fans" who only watch if Tiger is playing?

The Somali family, plus others from Somalia. Farfun, the father, is in the middle in back, and his wife is to the left of him in the pink and black attire. Click photo for a larger view.

Click photo for larger view

Yesterday morning, Pam and I attended the dedication of a Habitat for Humanity house that Anchor helped build. We joined three Presbyterian churches in the project.

The recipients were a Somali family: a husband, wife, and about 7 kids. They've been in the States for about four years. Before that, they spent 13 years in refugee camps, and some time before that in the bush. I'm sure they have stories to tell. The father, who looks very young, works for a tool and die company in Fort Wayne. Two of his coworkers attended the dedication, and they testified to how hard Farfun works.

The family applied themselves to learning English, and I must say, the husband and wife speak English remarkably well. They worked hard on the home, as Habitat recipients must, as well as in a second-hand clothing store.

The dedication ceremony lasted about an hour. It was informal. We just gathered in the living room, with the family. There were introductions, recognitions. Several gifts were given--a nice coffeemaker from Starbucks (which supplied free coffee to workers), some gift cards, a Bible. A set of keys were given to Farfun. Anchor's pastor, Tim Hallman, concluded with a prayer of blessing on the house. I'm not sure what Farfun's family thought of it all, with the heavy Christian emphasis, since they are Muslim. But they got some glimpses of the best of Christianity.

It was neat hearing from two other African immigrants, both from Ethiopia. They expressed their gratitude to everyone for coming alongside to help these their "brothers and sisters."

I learned that one day during the construction, Sarah, a young single gal from Anchor, very new to the church, brought two big plastic bags filled with donuts, juice, and fruit to the workers. Sarah doesn't have a car, so she took the bus to the home site, located probably 20 minutes from where she lives. And not just one bus, but no doubt several--taking one to a certain place, getting off, waiting for another bus, until finally reaching the stop nearest the house. She walked a good distance from the bus stop, carrying those big bags, to the house. And then she repeated the whole process to get back home. That, too, is the best of Christianity.

Saw two movies this weekend.

"Get Smart" was delightful. Pam and I laughed a lot, and they didn't go for a lot of cheap sexual humor, a la Ben Stiller. The bathroom scene in the airplane had us LOLing. But the funniest line in the movie--to me--came from Alan Arkin, and involved some obscenity and a swordfish. I've started laughing several times just thinking about it. And when The Rock stapled a paper to a guy's head--that was a major-league hoot. Steve Carell made a good Max. Ann Hathaway wasn't very Barbara Feldonish, but I really liked her as Agent 99.

That was yesterday. Today we saw "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." It was an enjoyable rollercoaster ride. Shia LaBeouf was very good as the sidekick, and it was nice having Karen Allen back (especially after having been replaced by Kate Capeshaw). Harrison Ford's looking old, but still has plenty of action in him, and I thought he did fine.

My brother Rick wrote a negative review on his blog, saying the plot was confusing at times. I usually agree with Rick, but in this case...well, yeah, I agree with him. I'm not sure what the heck was going on in that movie. But that's pretty much the way it is with rollercoasters. You just hang on until the end. It's a fine movie. But if you must choose, pick "Get Smart."

According to CNN:

• Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April 2008 than they did in April 2007.
• Americans have driven nearly 20 billion fewer miles overall this year.
• Less gas used, means less gas tax revenue going to the Highway Trust Fund, which means less money for road upkeep.
• People are trading SUVs for small, gas-efficient cars. Which means even less gas tax revenue, and even worse roads.

I'm feeling the caffeine urges this week. We started a four-day work week, with 10-hours days. It costs me $8 to drive to work, and several other persons live as far away as I do (or farther). So it'll be nice saving on gas one day of the week.

Our day now starts at 7 a.m., and ends at 5:30 (instead of 8-4:30). It goes fairly fast, and I find myself getting a lot done. I have big chunks of time, which is good for the type of stuff I do (graphic and writing projects).

But at the beginning of the day, I really really want coffee. We have a very nice new coffeemaker, and they've taken to brewing flavored coffees, so this waft-prone extra-rich aroma tempts me. And as I plunge into reading stuff, which is how I typically start my days--emails and RSS feeds--it would sure be nice to hold a cup of Joe in my hands. Coffee and reading-in-the-morning belong together.

But caffeine constricts blood vessels, which exacerbates my Meniere's Disease, causing vertigo. I could drink coffee all week and be okay, but it builds, and there would be, as Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, a Reckoning.

So instead, I'm sitting here with some mango herb tea. As a longtime hardcore coffee drinker, do you have any idea how hard it is to learn to like herb tea? But it's something.

BusinessWeek had an article about the decline of golfing. Still plenty of interest, but people are golfing less. Related businesses are hurting, particularly those offering consumables like golf balls and tees.

Three factors inhibit the spread of golf:

1. time
2. money
3. skill

Golf is mostly a suburban, middle-class sport (I don't know anybody at my church who plays golf). It takes discretionary money, and lots of time. But to do it well, you need skill. And golf, as the article says, is not "beginner friendly." Neither is tennis, which I played. Golf and tennis are all about technique, and good technique requires years of experience.

In music, playing the piano is not beginner-friendly. It takes years of lessons to get good. Whereas you can start banging drums immediately, and it's much easier to pick up on the guitar (pick up--get it? Ha ha ha).

So I was thinking of church-related things that aren't beginner-friendly.

• Pastoral ministry--years of schooling, then you get stuck in a podunk church content with being podunk.
• Bible translation--wow, there's something that takes an enormous commitment to pull off.
• And that's all I came up with, but my mind is a bit fried right now.

• I enjoyed the tributes to Tim Russert. And yet...it was a bit much. A case of press self-indulgence. The networks, particularly MSNBC, went overboard in paying tribute to Russert. I think the world of Russert; he's irreplaceable. But in the grand scheme of things.... Will Tom Brokaw get that treatment? Why didn't Jim McKay?
• I guess the push is on to get Bin Laden before Bush leaves office. Imagine what a coup it would be if Obama's administration nailed him?

Here's a great quote from Mitch McConnell concerning Tim Russert: "I’m sure I speak for all elected officials when I say he always asked the question we hoped he wouldn’t."

Some miscellaneous blogworthy thoughts:

• Mom and Dad came over for lunch, for Father's Day. I grilled ribeyes, did a crockpot with potatoes, onion, and carrots, made a fruit bowl, and sauteed some vegetables. Had a great time with them. They liked our new couches.
• Watched the special Meet the Press tribute to Tim Russert, plus lots of other tribute segments since his unexpected passing on Friday. Russert was definitely a giant. We'll miss him, especially in this election year--probably the most exciting one he was ever part of. Nobody can fill his shoes. I always felt he was the very best at moderating debates (with Brian Williams a close second; and they sometimes did debates together). Wolf is the worst.
• Interesting 60 Minutes report about how Denmark always tops surveys of the world's happiest people. The consensus is that it's more about contentment than happiness. They have a decent standard of living, without big fluctuations between rich and poor, and don't aspire to be rich. Can also call it a lack of ambition. The Apostle Paul would have made a good Dane when it comes to contentment, though he was certainly driven, too.
• The other 60 Minutes segment was on the importance of sleep, and how not getting enough affects memory, motor skills, and just about everything else. Thanks to the NBA game tonight, I'll not get much sleep, leading no doubt to critical mistakes at work tomorrow.

Anchor is taking part in the OnePrayer.com emphasis. Pastor Tim got us started last week with his prayer for Anchor: Lord, Make Us Courageous. This week we watched Craig Groeschel, the impetus behind OnePrayer, preach on, "Lord, Make Us One." It's the first time Anchor has tried a video sermon, and it seemed to me that people responded well.

In planning music for today, we talked about songs having to do with oneness. We thought of two, but both can be sung in a very downer way (and usually are): "They'll Know We are Christians," and "We are One in the Bond of Love." We told Tim we could jazz up "They'll Know We are Christians," and he told us to run with it.

And boy, did we jazz it up. Rock it up, I mean. It was a great rock and roll version, with superb guitar work (on the keyboard, I felt a bit superfluous).

During a transition time, between the video message and what we call our Sermon Sequel, I played two upbeat hymns on the grand, "Since Jesus Came Into my Heart" and "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder." People applauded when I finished. That always surprises me. I don't know if they just liked those hymns, or if they liked rollicking gospel piano. Or maybe it was just that Joanna started clapping and hooting, and dragged everyone along with her.

Pam's Dad died exactly six months ago. This is the six-month anniversary. He lay in a coma for a week, and on the 14th of December, they removed life support and he very soon was pronounced dead. So this is a day with meaning for my wife.

Pam and her sister, Jodie, spent the day together. They went to the grave, took pictures, went to Wal-Mart and Meiers and who knows where else, went to Chuck's condo (which still hasn't sold, and they are highly motivated sellers), sent in some ads to the local free classified paper, and just hung out at the house.

I gave the grill a thorough cleaning, inside and out. Then, for supper, I grilled T-bones for Pam and Jodie. Stir-fried some veggies in olive oil, too. The steaks had been marinating in Dr. Pete's Burgandy Marinade, the best marinade I've tried so far. Since I grew up in a total-abstention denomination, using a "burgandy" marinade makes me feel a little bit naughty. Please don't comfort me (as Jodie tried to do) by saying that cooking makes the alcohol evaporate. I want to feel a tad rebellious, like I'm getting away with something. (Though, obviously, God is watching.)

I only grilled T-bones for Pam and Jodie. We get them in two-packs from W&W Locker in Huntington, and I didn't want to split a second pack. I just made a hamburger for myself. Of course, that made Pam and Jodie feel guilty. And of course, I knew that would be the case.

Got my semi-annual letter from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, with a check for $5.61. That's about what's it's been for several years now. It's nice being able to depend on a steady income.

It's a royalty check from InterVarsity Press. My three Murphy's Law books are long since out of print in the United States, but two of them are still available from Brendow, a secular publisher in Germany: Murphy's Laws of Parenting, and Murphy's Laws of Marriage. You can get them on Amazon/Germany. In fact, if you order some, you'll ensure that I continue rolling in das gut German dough.

I don't know how many ways the profits are split at this point. With IVPress, cartoonist Rob Suggs and I split 15% of the profits (after our advance was covered). With the German publisher, it gets split four ways: InterVarsity gets half of whatever tiny percentage of the royalties Brendow contracted to fork over in licensing publication rights. Rob and I split the other half. These things are obviously selling like hotcakes in Germany, hence my monstrously generous royalty check. It could be that Germans don't particularly care for hotcakes.

Has anyone else noticed all the blondes in ridiculously short skirts on Fox News? Yes, in fact, many people have noticed. Just Google "Fox News blondes." Lots of chatter on this subject.

I don't watch Fox News, normally, but I regularly flip through it (channel 82) on my journey from CNN (80) to MSNBC (84). And quite often, what you see is a blonde in a very short skirt. The morning Fox & Friends show, in particular, showcases a fabric-deficient blonde sitting between two bimbos of the testosterone persuasion.

Another is E. D. Hill, whose journalist acumen deduced that Barack and Michelle Obama's fist-jab was actually a diabolical terrorist signal of some kind. I understand that Fox News responded today by canceling her show, which opens another slot for the teeming multitude of unemployed blonde goddesses.

Now, I'm not criticizing blondes. I'm sure that all of these stunning women carry impeccable journalistic credentials and can correctly identify a cold air mass moving across the Plains States. I'm just saying.

Ashley Furniture delivered our new living room furniture yesterday afternoon. Our former couch and loveseat, a matching set from Kittles, were carted away to the Mustard Seed Furniture Bank last Wednesday. After 15 years, there wasn't much padding left. Not comfortable at all for Sunday afternoon naps, because you could feel the boards down there pressing against your ribs.

We've been talking about getting new furniture for several years, but we refuse to go in debt over anything except house and cars (we've been paying off our credit cards every month for at least ten years). And there were always costs in line ahead of furniture. Until now.

This white couch, I swear, is the most comfortable couch in known recorded history. Each side has a recliner. When extended, it's like a bed. You sink into it and want to go to sleep. We sat in a lot of couches in a lot of stores, but none came close to this one comfort-wise. The trick will be keeping Molly from drooling over the white fabric (the only color available).

Fortunately, Molly seems to have taken to the other couch, the brown one.

Lots of talk on ESPN this morning about the retirement of Michael Strayhan from the New York Giants. All of which prompted these thoughts:

• That was sure a great Super Bowl this year!
• What will the Patriots be like this year? Will they come out with a non-nonsense grimness, minus the cockiness of last season?
• After the NBA finals end this week or next, all we'll have is baseball. I really hate baseball.
• I think the Bears will have another bust season. Until they get a quarterback....

What a book! I'm talking about Jon Evans' Dark Places, published under the Dark Alley imprint. The protagonist is an adventure traveler, a top-notch but distracted computer programmer whose first love is backpacking across remote areas of the world. In Nepal, he discovers a hiker who has been murdered in the same way his girlfriend was murdered in Cameroon. That sets in motion a hunt which takes us to Indonesia, West Africa, San Francisco, London, and the darkest recesses of the internet in an effort to track down this serial killer.

Jon Evans himself is an adventure traveler, which is the only way he could write this book with so much local texture. But the internet stuff, with cryptic communications with the killer, and more than you may want to know about the ways we leave digital footprints, really made the book for me.

This was an utterly fascinating book, one of the few in a long time that I absolutely couldn't put down. Evans has several other novels out there. They've jumped immediately to the top of my must-read list.

Finished Dan Fesperman's Life in the Dark, a Black Lizard imprint about Vlado Petric, a police detective in Sarajevo during the Bosnia-Serb war of the 1990s. I previous read Small Boat of Great Sorrow, the second Vlado Petric novel. That was good. This one was better, mainly because of the surprise ending which I never anticipated, and which I would defy anyone else to guess.

I love detective novels in a foreign setting, like those by Henning Mankell. Sarajevo was certainly unique, with the Serbs in the mountain regularly shelling the city, and Vlado having to dodge sniper fire as he went about investigating a criminal conspiracy. Then the daily hassles of finding food and other necessities. The lack of gas, communications, food, heat, and general sanity.

Fesperman, a journalist who covered the conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, created a truly unique setting for a detective novel. Chaos reigns throughout Sarajevo, making Vlado's every effort complicated. When this particular ending arrived, coming out of a left field I'd never seen before, it dismayed me a little bit. And yet, as I thought about it, I realized, "There's no better way for this book to end." And I find that I can't stop thinking about it.

It's gone. The first set of furniture we bought for our house, clear back in 1993--couch, loveseat, recliner--gone. Well, not the recliner. It's still in the bedroom in good shape. But the couch and loveseat had lost their padding, making them very uncomfortable for Sunday afternoon naps. So after 15 years, we donated them to the Mustard Seed Furniture Bank. Two guys came about 7 pm tonight and hauled them away in a truck.

Now we've got a very bare living room. This afternoon, Stanley Steamer came to clean the carpets. Then, next Tuesday, our new couches--two full-size couches, no loveseat this time--will be delivered.

Jordi and Molly don't know what to make of it. They don't like walking on the damp carpet, and there's no place to lay. But I suspect they'll adapt and survive. Until at least Tuesday.

At this point, I don't know whether I'll vote for McCain or Obama. It's a win-win thing for me. I like McCain a lot, but when it comes to issues I care most about--Iraq, health care, climate change, energy independence--he would probably be a status quo president. Whereas Obama would advance those causes.

But I could still easily vote for McCain.

Yet...I'm still rooting for Obama. I want him to make wise choices. And that makes me greatly concerned about who he'll pick for a running mate.

Please, please--don't pick Hillary. Because then all we'll be talking about is Bill. I know it seems politically smart to pick her, like Kennedy picked Johnson. But don't. Just don't. You'll regret it. She wants it, but don't give in.

The list of VP alternatives is long and distinguished. I would be much more likely to vote for Obama if he picked:

• Joe Biden. I really like Biden, and he's got big foreign policy experience. If he picks Biden, then I'm probably aboard.
• Bill Richardson (though he should be Secretary of State).
• Jim Webb (maybe).
• Evan Bayh (a bit more qualified than Hoosier Dan Quayle was).

Wow, this put tears in my eyes. Must be from an American Idol for kids in England. Simon Cowell says some great things. The stunned expressions when this kid started singing are priceless.

Tonight was our monthly club table tennis tournament. I was in a group with four other guys, and we did a round robin. Very closely matched. I played great, winning three matches and losing the other 3-1 against an Asian guy I beat last Tuesday. Turns out there was a three-way tie, three of us with a 3-1 record. So we apply a complicated algorithm.

And I ended up third. Couldn't believe it. Played my butt off, even having to get out a second headband because the first one was drenched. But still ended up third. I shall go to bed tonight bitter.

The Ragamuffin Soul website showed this picture of a protest sign. Evidently, some confused Christian felt this was a good evangelism tactic.

I got a kick out of some of the comments:

• Winning people to Christ‚Ķone picket sign at a time!
• I once predicted the score of the Superbowl. I guess that makes me a "psychic sports fan" I‚Äôm screwed!
• I do appreciate that their sign has no objections to my potty mouth.
• I am glad Jesus was the one hanging out with those who needed Him, not holding signs up pushing them away.
• Shouldn‚Äôt it be ‚ÄúHeaven‚Äôs Most Wanted‚Äù?
• Sports fans? Wow, I haven‚Äôt seen that one in the scriptures. I thought running the race was a good thing.
• Is there really a need to put psychics on there? I‚Äôm sure they already knew!
• Tertullian did talk about Christians participating in sports as being immoral, but that was back when more people died during the contests.
• Looks like drug lords, murderers, slave owners, and those responsible for genocide are safe‚Ķ
• I wonder why lesbians get hit twice?!?
• Wow. I guess that‚Äôs one way to evangelize. ????
• Since "people driving cars into people holding jackass signs" isn‚Äôt on the list, let me get my keys.

Every week, often several times a week, we learn of additional ways the Bush Administration has abused its power or displayed incompetence. I just now read about efforts to squelch scientific evidence about climate change (old news, actually), which is why, in this absolutely crucial time for the world, we've gone eight years with zero leadership from the US in combating global warming. Absolutely outrageous.

Scott McClellan's allegatons are exactly what I suspected was true of the Bush Administration. A weak, out of touch President surrounded by strong-willed ideologues. Eight years, and they've accomplished virtually nothing positive.

I realize that when I criticize Bush, people think I'm being unpatriotic. That a person who truly loves the USA will support its President. (Why don't we talk about supporting Congress, which the Founders created as an equal entity?)

It's because I'm patriotic that I'm angered by what George Bush has done to my country. I love this country, always have. To see one man ascend to the presidency, surround himself with ideologues, drag us into a voluntary war, scorch our reputation in the world, thumb his nose at Congressional oversight, trample on civil rights, govern in a flagrantly divisive way...on and on...well, this rightly upsets me. And it should upset you.

I wouldn't stand idly by as a new pastor shattered my church's ministry and our reputation in the neighborhood. Nor will I stand in line and salute when George Bush does that to my country. Why is this so hard to understand?

Seeing Barack Obama gazing at Mount Rushmore takes me back to Mrs. Friedrich, my fifth-grade teacher at Paxtonia Elementary School in Harrisburg, Pa. One day, she showed us a picture of Mount Rushmore and explained that it was a natural rock formation. Isn't that incredible? she told us. Just wind and rain and a few ice ages, and there are the faces of four US presidents carved into the mountain.

We, mere fifth-graders, laughed down her idea of it being a natural rock formation. "No it's not!" we said. Just fifth-graders in open revolt against our teacher's omniscience. She insisted weakly, but then backed down and went on to something else. That night I'm sure she looked it up, or asked the principle, and learned the truth. The students had become the teacher. But hey--she was a rookie teacher that year. Give her a break.

I'm just glad the wind, rain, and ice ages stuck to US presidents. What if, instead of, say, Teddy Roosevelt, we had the image of Joseph Stalin? Or Chairman Mao?