September 2009 Archives

My brother, Rick, posted this "Note to Bill Clinton" on his blog:

"Okay, so you still think there is a vast right wing conspiracy? Now, did it keep you from being elected twice to the Presidency? Did it keep the Democrats from retaking the House and Senate in 2006? Did it keep Obama from gaining the White House in 2008? If there's a conspiracy, it sure ain't doing very good at whoever they are conspiring against."

Now, for all those people on the right who imagine a dastardly conspiracy by Obama to create a 1000 Year Fourth Reich....

Did you know there is a "Christian Hall of Fame"? It's even located in Canton, Ohio, home of the pro football Hall of Fame. It's a creation of Canton Baptist Temple. The most recent inductee is Jerry Falwell, added September 23.

When I read about that, I immediately fell into my default cynical mode. I assumed it would be populated mainly by fundamentalist Baptist Republicans. And I figured it would be fertile ground for a very satirical blog post, as if that would edify the Kingdom.

Then I took a look...and I'm fascinated by it!

First of all, the website is very, very well done. As user-friendly as can be.

The inductees span the last 2000 years. Click on a name, and you get a picture and description of that person. Click on a period of history (say, "The Church in Reformation: AD 1000-1500"), and you get a list of persons from that period--some that you've heard of, some that you haven't.  In the Reformation period, there were eight persons: Wycliffe, Huss, Savonarola, Hubmaler, Zwingli, Tyndale, Luther, Simons. I'd never heard of Savonarola or Hubmaler, so it was interesting reading about them and their contribution to Christianity.

The last period, "The Church Expands: 1900-2000," has 50 entries. Of those, all were English-speaking Caucasians--ten from Great Britain, one from Canada, the rest from the US of A. So I guess the world's significant Christians mostly lived during the last 100 years, and apparently almost entirely in the United States, or at least they spoke English. There is only one person of color in the list (John Jasper, from the 1800s) and only one woman (hymn-writer Fanny Crosby). It's too bad that, according to the Christian Hall of Fame, there has not been a single significant black or Asian Christian in the whole world during the last 100 years.

So if you want to make it into the Christian Hall of Fame, you really need to be a modern-day white English-speaking American man. And I'm guessing that you need orthodox fundie credentials. 

But still, it's interesting. 

My favorite entry was the very last entry, for "The Unknown Christian." It says:

This Christian never made the headlines as a greet theologian or a silver-tongued orator. He (or she) is a faithful, consecrated, born-again layman. The foot solder in the Gospel army. He (or she) is a Sunday School teacher, an usher, a singer, a bus worker, a nursery helper, a parking lot attendance, or a prayer warrior. His (or her) service is unheralded but vital in the cause of Christ. His (or her) testimony adorns the gospel as he (or she) faithfully witnesses daily "in the temple and in every house," sacrificing time, talent, and tithe to the Lord.

Having served the Lord in the home, the church, and the world, this Christian will one day hear the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord" (Matthew 25:21).

Wow, is CNN's Rick Sanchez ticked at Fox News! Fox took out a big add saying that CNN (and other news organizations) didn't cover the Tea Party march in Washington. He tears apart that claim. Interestingly, the photo Fox used in their ad apparently came from CNN's own live feed of the event.

Sanchez says, "We covered the event. We didn't promote the event. That's not what real news organizations do. We covered the event."

Watch this video. It's worth it.

A lot of Hollywood types are upset that Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for a crime he committed 30 years ago in the United States, and now faces extradition to the US. Sure, he drugged and raped a minor child, then fled from prosecution. But hasn't he suffered enough?

An article in Salon absolutely skewers the thought that Polanski deserves pity and mercy. The article lays out exactly what he did, and why we shouldn't let it go just because he's enormously talented and knows powerful people.

The article ends, "Roman Polanski raped a child. And rushing past that point to focus on the reasons why we should forgive him, pity him, respect him, admire him, support him, whatever, is absolutely twisted"

When you reach 80% of seating capacity, you'll stop growing. You won't grow beyond 80% of capacity.

A 22-year-old Ohio girl, a member of one of our churches, died last week of complications from H1N1. She was a recent college graduate working two jobs. According to her roommate, she became ill two weeks ago, but didn't seek care initially because she lacked health insurance and was worried about the cost. 

On Tuesday, September 22, we visited Mount Rushmore. We were there around 1992 on a trip to Colorado. Back then, they just had a gift shop and an observation deck from which you could see Mount Rushmore in the distance. But they have totally redone it. I know we're not supposed to believe that government can do anything right, but let me tell you--they did this right. Plus, there were far, far more visitors than I remembered on my previous two visits.



As you come up the steps from the parking garage, you walk right toward the monument in the distance. It's spectacular. It's a very long and wide walkway. The latter part is lined with 14 pillars, each bearing four flags. That's 56 flags--one for each state, plus each of the 6 US territories. After the columns is a large observation deck, with an amphitheater beneath it. You're a lot closer than you were with the previous gift shop.

But that's just the start. You can then take a path which circles around right up to the base of the mountain. You're basically at the bottom, in the slag rock pile, looking up at the faces. Nice, very nice. You really feel like you're a part of this monument, not just gazing from a distance.

By the time we browsed the new gift shop and ate a monstrous ice cream cone, it was probably 4:30. We headed on to our bed & breakfast. Just beyond the park, we encountered a whole bunch of cars stopped. Two white mountain goats were in the gully beside the road, and people had stopped to take pictures. So did we. Beautiful creatures.

We settled into our B&B, and then decided to return to Rushmore for the nightly program. And we're sure glad we did. Hundreds of people were there, far more than I was expecting.

A lady park ranger led the program. She gave a lot of history about the mountain and the four presidents, and we watched a nice 20-minute film about Rushmore. As the film ended, the mountain gradually began lighting up, thanks to a beacon and a couple banks of powerful lights. There were no shadows among the faces. Very well done, and quite dramatic.







The park ranger then invited all military vets to come down. Probably 60 did, lined up double-file across the wide outdoor stage. She found six volunteers to help lower the American flag, which they then folded into a triangle. I was very struck by several vets who stood at attention, saluting, while the flag was being lowered. Their reverence for our country ran deep. In the photo above, the one on the far right was the night's only WW2 vet.



The ranger then went down the lines of vets with the microphone. Each vet put his or her hand on the flag--just as thousands of other vets had done previously, with that same flag--and gave his/her name and branch of service, and maybe a little bit more--rank, unit, country where they saw combat. One woman came forward to represent her husband, a WW2 vet. Another woman was representing her husband who was in Iraq.

There was only one WW2 vet. When he mentioned serving in World War 2, the crowd applauded.That was the only applause of the night. There were many Vietnam vets, but no Korean War vets. However, some fellow guests at our B&B, who went the next night, said they had several Korean vets, but no WW2 vets. They also said the crowd applauded for each currently-serving soldier. So I guess the dynamics differ each night.

I had been to Mount Rushmore twice before. But with the enormous changes they've made (finished in 1997, we were told) and the evening program, I was just overwhelmed. I would gladly go back.

Time has proven that they made excellent choices in the four presidents chiseled into the mountain. Today, we might argue for FDR instead of Teddy, and some would suggest Ronald Reagan. But those four guys--Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt--were definitely larger-than-life presidents.

Thank you, Jackie Houchin, for bringing this to my much amused attention. This is the official blog of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Somebody at PETA needs to say the name of this blog real fast about five times in a row.

Sarah Palin went to communist China and, while America is at war, criticized the US president and our government. I will expect condemnations from Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, and Bill O'Reilly. And from millions of other right-wing conservatives.

Unless they are hypocrites. In which case, they'll find reason to praise her.

I've been gone from Anchor the last two weeks. But this afternoon, I talked with one of my fellow parishioners, who filled me in on what's been happening. And I must say, I'm alarmed.

He said we've been having way too many visitors--more than we need or can handle. An  uncomfortably large number of unfamiliar faces are attending. At yesterday's Grandparents' Day potluck, one guy who came for only the second week brought a crockpot. How presumptive is that? Does he think after just two weeks, we're his church home? I'm sorry, but it'll take more than that to break through our cliques.

Apparently, some of our newer people are taking Pastor Tim's sermon admonitions to heart. When he says to go talk to nonChristians and to invite people to church, they're going out and actually doing it. As if we don't have enough people already, they're inviting more people.

It's a sign of immaturity. Those of us who have been Christians for many years know that the pastor doesn't actually expect us to follow his sermon directives. He's just assembling a message which we'll agree is biblical and challenging and interesting to listen to--not something we'll actually put into practice. It's a little dance we mature Christians play. We nod our affirmation to truths we already know, then ignore them.

But these newcomers--they just don't get it. Their enthusiasm will make us seasoned churchgoers look bad. Who, then, will they look to for spiritual guidance and models?

We need to teach them that the goal is intellectual assent, not behavioral change. That like the poor, we'll always have nonChristians around us, and we shouldn't get too concerned about their eternal destiny. That when Tim tells us to do something, he doesn't really mean it. He's just saying what's expected.

I'm confident that, over time, these newcomers will get with the program, if they just watch the rest of us closely. 

Our vacation is now over--but what a great time Pam and I had!

We traveled 2900 miles in our Infiniti, trouble-free. Did a little backtracking, including the whole southern part of South Dakota and a little stretch in Minnesota, but didn't mind. Left home September 9, returned home late Friday night, September 17.

We left home Wednesday, September 9, for Chicago, where I attended the MinistryCOM conference Thursday and Friday. But starting Saturday, it was all vacation. We headed to Minneapolis, and Sunday night found us in South Dakota. We spent three days in the Rapid City area--the Badlands. Gorgeous territory! We were there about 16 years ago, but it was a quick trip--saw Rushmore, Deadwood, and headed on. This time, we got to enjoy the beauty of the Black Hills.

We had sunshine and 70-80 degree weather the whole way. Perfect!

In Chicago, ate at a little deli with incredible 50's decor. That was the good part. The food was terrible, and the only workers were two Arab-Americans who spoke to each other in arabic.

Visited Long Grove, a quaint section on the edge of the Chicago metropolis with shops in old houses. Pam was there many years ago with her Dad, Chuck.

That's about it for Chicago. On Saturday morning, we headed for Minneapolis, and spent most of the day heading there.

Visited the Mall of the Americas Saturday night, September 12. We had about four hours before closing, and trekked the place and ate (at the original Rainforest Cafe) in about three hours. It's truly enormous. And the recession doesn't seem to have hit that mall. It was busy busy busy.

Attended church Sunday morning, September 13, at Berean Baptist in Minneapolis.  Brent Birdsall, a friend from Huntington, joined the staff two years ago. Quite an impressive church. With an attendance of 2000, Brent said they are still only the 55th largest church in Minneapolis. We took Brent to lunch (Sandie was in Seattle with a daughter) and spent several enjoyable hours with him, mostly there at Ruby Tuesdays.



Minneapolis is the home of the NFL Vikings, the first team I fell in love with as a kid. That was back in the Fran Tarkenton/Alan Page/Chuck Foreman days. I rooted loyally for them for many years, but they continually let me down. I've since switched loyalties to the Colts. Nevertheless, some remnants of Viking fanhood remain. I bought a Vikings T-shirt and cap. But I didn't get one of the Brett Favre T-shirts and jerseys that adorned shop windows throughout the city.

After leaving Brent, we pressed on to Sioux Falls, SD. Didn't intend to get that far, but went for it. Found a Holiday Inn Express, and found a very poor late-night meal at a Perkins.

We were really impressed with Sioux Falls. We could live there. Spacious, modern, clean, easy to get around. The interstate goes down the middle, and practically everything can be found off of the 4-5 exits. Sioux Falls has one of the nicest malls I've ever seen.
 


First thing Monday morning, September 14, we went to the Sioux Falls zoo. The AAA book said it was a gem. And it was. A very nice zoo for a city of 125,000. Not as nice as Fort Wayne's zoo, but worth seeing.



Outside the zoo entrance was an old piano. I took a seat and played while Pam snapped some pictures.

The original plan was to spent Monday night in Mitchell, SD, and head to Rapid City on Tuesday. But after leaving Sioux Falls around 2:30, we decided to make it to Rapid City that night. We skipped the Corn Palace in Mitchell. We skipped Wall Drug. Stopped at both of them during our visit in the early 1990s. Figured on stopping at Wall Drug on our way home, since we would be backtracking.

Arrived around 9 pm in Rapid City. The Hampton and Holiday Inn Express were full, but Comfort Inn had a place for us.

Found a gourmet pizza place called Boston's for a late-night meal. Turns out that at that time of night, you can get a personal pizza for $2.99. That's what we did--2 personal pepperoni pizzas, 2 drinks. Fantastic pizza! And couldn't beat the price.

That's enough for this post.

As a Christian, I'm tired of seeing people break laws, both moral and legal, and apologizing with lame statements like:

• "I made a mistake."
• "I showed poor judgment.

Last night, on Jay Leno's premiere (good start, BTW), I watched Kanye West apologize for his outrageous behavior toward Taylor Swift at that awards show. Perspective alert: this was an AWARDS show. But it was rude, and I wish there could be some penalty beyond gaining more bad-boy cred.

I watched Serena Williams's terrible behavior toward that line judge in the US Open. It cost her the match, plus $10,000 in pocket change. She ALSO gave a sincere public apology. But hurray that there were actual penalties for her behavior.

Today, Congress votes on a public reprimand for Joe Wilson, the lowest form of censure. I'm sure the right-wing pundit opinion-leaders will decry this, calling it purely partisan. That he said, "I'm sorry," and that should be enough. I'm sure they would agree that an apology from Serena Williams should have sufficed, too. No additional penalty needed. In fact, let's play the point over.

Wilson demonstrated outrageous before millions of people. He broke House rules which he had agreed to follow, and dishonored Congress and the President. Yet plenty of Republicans will say "I'm sorry," is enough, that there should be no additional penalty. If it was a Democrat dissing a Republican president, they would be in favor of censure. But not in this case.

Because their views are not based on principle, but on partisanship.

Perhaps you can guess how I feel about it.

Finished two books from the Vintage Black Lizard imprint last  week.

• Powder Burn, by Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano, was a fun read. It revolves around Chris Meadows, an architect who, in the wrong place at the wrong time, gets drawn into the drug wars. I enjoyed it. These authors wrote three books for the Black Lizard imprint. This one was published in 1981.
• The Underground Man, a 1981 Ross MacDonald mystery, seemed to drag. There were way too many characters and relationships to juggle. Any of them could have committed the murders. But I couldn't keep track of them all. The last 50 pages, I just wanted to know who done it, put the book on the shelf, and start a new one.

Today, President Obama will spend 15-20 minutes--more than enough time--brainwashing the nation's schoolchildren. From his perch as the world's most powerful and influential person, he will tell them to take personal responsibility and stay in school. We should all be outraged, just like our infallible pundit heroes drill into us over and over, day after day, hour after hour, on and on and on as we listen zombie-like, craving flesh. Some minority students who especially look up to Obama may be especially vulnerable to his dangerous message.

Nothing in the Constitution specifically says the President can talk to schoolchildren, just as nothing in the Constitution specifically says a black man can be President, an idea which would have been unimaginable to Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings. If the Constitution doesn't say it, we shouldn't allow it. We should be against it, just as Democrats opposed George H. W. Bush's speech in 1991 to schoolchildren who still bear those mental scars.

But that is only Phase 1 of this insidious indoctrination regimen concocted by the secret Brainwashing Czar. Phase 2 kicks in Wednesday night, when Obama delivers a speech to the nation.

I object to the President giving a prime time speech. It will occur before kids' bedtime, which means there may be children in the room. And thus, they risk being brainwashed again. Fifteen minutes here, 30 minutes there--before long, we'll have a Manchurianesque children's crusade on our hands, with youngsters wearing Mao suits storming Wall Street and redistributing wealth.

All presidential speeches from now on, including the State of the Union, should occur after 11 pm. We cannot risk exposing minors to the President of the United States.

I've always felt guilty, spiritually inferior even, that I don't have a life verse. I work around ministers, and I'll bet every one of them can recite their life verse. I think they can't graduate from seminary without one. And somewhere, the Bible says, "Thou shalt have a life verse." Somewhere. Otherwise, ministers wouldn't emphasize it so much.

A life verse is quintessentially American. It goes along with our love for mission statements, goals, and purpose-drivenness. Our leadership books insist that you have a mission statement to be effective. It guides you, keeps you on track.

Some life verses are very common, like:

• Matthew 5:16--"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
• Proverbs 3:6--"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
• Matthew 6:33--"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
• Psalm 37:4--"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Multitudes of people choose those life verses. What's really impressive is the preachers who find some obscure verse in a minor prophet, and turn it into a life verse fraught with contemporary significance. They take pride in their verse, and love every opportunity to quote it, thereby exhibiting their profound depth and biblical scholarship. It would be fun to get a bunch of ministers in a room and let them take turns reciting their life verse. Pity the poor fool who can only quote John 3:16 or Philippians 4:13. There is no status in those verses.

ChristianBook.com asked a slew of Christian authors for their life verses, and they could all give one. Except Ted Dekker, who replied honestly, "I have none. How can you choose one verse over another from the word of God?"

You can buy Life Verse Jewelry. You can get a life verse tattoo. Tyndale has a One Year Life Verse Devotional. And if you can't think of anything, you can look up your birthverse. Mine is Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." I was born on October 23 (10:23), so this is obviously of God.

But there is one life verse I've never heard anyone use. It's the one Jesus chose in what's called the Nazareth Manifesto, when he is just starting his ministry. In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61:1 to let people know what his ministry will be about:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

I've never heard anyone use that life verse. And I can't imagine a United Brethren minister selecting it. It just doesn't fit what our churches are about--to preach to the poor, and to seek justice and healing. We're in favor of those things (except for the "year of the Lord's favor" income-redistribution thing), but keep them on the back-burner.

I suppose every generation of Christians in every country reinvents Jesus to fit their priorities, their interpretations of Scripture. The Nazareth Manifesto just doesn't fit what 21st Century American Christians are about. We're about evangelism and discipleship--saving people from eternal death, and teaching them the Bible. How can that NOT be good. Of COURSE we need to do that. But when Jesus had the chance to say what he was about, he focused on the poor, on injustice, and on healing--three things very, very foreign to the evangelical Christianity we have created.

When none of us would pick Isaiah 61:1 as our life verse, as Jesus sort of did, it just makes me wonder, again. How well does the American Christianity that we have fashioned and taught to the rest of the world truly reflect what Jesus was about?

Pam and I just returned from the Van Wert County Fair, just across the Ohio line. We've gone every year of our married life, plus 1-2 years before that. So at least 21 years now. I guess you could call that a tradition.

Usually, we meet up with family there. My brother and his kids go, and so do my parents. But tonight, it was just Pam and me.

What we do at the fair is eat. That's the whole purpose.

Started at Rager's, as we always do Pam got their ham sandwich, I got the bologna. They also have a great sausage sandwich, which is what I got last year. Three winning sandwiches. They didn't have the bologna sandwich last year, but brought it back by popular demand. It's really excellent.

Next we had a funnel cake. Then, after walking around for a while--to the animal barns, past the old restored tractors, down through the game booths, through the commercial building--we each got a cone of cherry ice cream.

Every fair is known for something, food-wise. In Huntington, where I work, people go for the milkshakes made by the local milk producer. I've never had one, but people rave about them. At the Van Wert fair, it's Rager's sandwiches, and the cherry ice cream. Mom says the cherry ice cream stand was there when she was a kid, in exactly the same place you find it today.

We considered getting some Fiske Fries, which are delicious. But we've become diet conscious, and decided those fries were no doubt infested with calories. So instead, we opted for a second funnel cake. I'm sure that makes sense according to some twisted Vulcan logic. We added a lemon shake-up to make the evening complete.

Then it was time to leave. As per tradition, I bought a bag of cinnamon toasted almonds on the way out, and Pam bought a big bag of cotton candy.

How many calories will this cost us? That is yet to be determined.

In front of Mom and Dad's house.





Mom, Dad, and Pam.

Pam and I have been having a lot of fun doing garage sales with my parents. We did three last year (Memorial Day weekend, August, and early October. Then we did three this year: Memorial Day weekend, August, and Labor Day. The latter two were just three weeks apart. And yet, we still took in over $600 at each. Memorial Day this year brought in over $1000.

We hold the garage sale at my parents' place. They're located in a real nice addition, and a number of neighbors also hold garage sales. We sell items from my parents, Pam and me, my niece Paula and her husband, and my brother Stu and his wife, Joyce. Sometimes we have things from Terry and Carol Easterday, friends of my parents who live in South Bend. Today, we sold items for Pam's sister, Jodie. It's a trick keeping track of what is sold. Pam excels in that role.

This weekend, the two neighbors to the north of Mom and Dad held garage sales, plus two others along the same street.

Mom's cookies are always a big hit. This weekend, she made peanut butter cookies and sugar cookies. They all sold out before noon today, at 25 cents per cookies (in packages of 2 and 6). All of her homemade noodles sold out yesterday. She's been doing cookies for several years now at garage sales, and they pull in lots of repeat customers. Today, about a half hour after we closed and had the garage door down, a girl rang the doorbell asking if we had any cookies left.

Okay, I really like this excerpt from a column by Jake Negovan called "For the People: Herr Obama and the Socialist States of America."

I wonder how many people that have bandied about the word socialist at town hall meetings or at the dinner table or on Facebook in relation to their disapproval of our President have ever driven on a road, walked on a sidewalk, visited a public park, checked a book out from the library, had a relative on Social Security, called the police, learned something at a public school, left trash at the curb for pick-up, been thankful to have a fire department, cheered for a sports team at a publicly-funded arena, or supported our troops. Those services and benefits have all been as socialist as a national health care plan could be....

Grow up. If you have a disagreement, discuss it like an adult. Name-calling has no place in civilized debate. It just makes it appear that you don't know your facts because your ideas were spoon-fed to you in the first place.

What do you think?

"The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien, is considered among the best--if not the best--work of fiction to come out of the Vietnam War. After reading it, I must concur. It is some kind of masterpiece. It's been two weeks since I finished the book, and I still think about it.

You haven't read anything like this book. It reads like a memoir, written in first person by Tim O'Brien. The book is dedicated to "the men of Alpha Company," and then he names them--the same characters as in the book. And yet, the title page (not the cover) says, "A work of fiction by Tim O'Brien." The characters in the book are, I'm assuming, the same people O'Brien actually served with in Vietnam. But here, he's making up stories about them, inventing a whole different reality, rewriting his own history. Or is he?

How much is actual memoir, and how much is made up? Only O'Brien can tell us that, I suppose. In the book, he references the book "If I Die in a Combat Zone," his own actual memoir of serving in Vietnam. Early on, he tells a fascinating story about getting his draft notice, and coming close to crossing into Canada. Was that all made up, or was it based on at least some truth?

So in that respect, it's a somewhat discombobulating book. What is real? What is based on reality? What is just totally invented?

The book has no plot. Rather, it is a series of stories, usually not involving combat. In places, O'Brien the character muses about the role of war stories, how it keeps alive the memory of men killed in action.

And he kept circling back to the same stories. He'd tell a story in one chapter, and a couple chapters later, while telling another story, he would allude back to the earlier one and fill in some information he didn't tell before. Then a few chapters later, he might come back to the same story from yet another angle. This happened over and over, giving cohesiveness to the book's somewhat disjointed tales.

The writing itself is beautiful. In one place, he talks about going on night patrols.

"It was the purest black you could imagine...the kind of clock-stopping black that God must've had in mind when he sat down to invent blackness. It made your eyeballs ache. You'd shake your head and blink, except you couldn't even tell you were blinking, the blackness didn't change. So pretty soon you'd get jumpy. Your nerves would go. You'd start to worry about getting cut off from the rest of the unit--alone, you'd think--and then the real panic would bang in and you'd reach out and try to touch the guy in front of you, groping for his shirt, hoping to Christ he was still there. It made for some bad dreams.

This is a book I highly recommend. It is captivating, it is surreal, it is off-putting. It is altogether masterful.

Being a Communications Director, I really needed to get aboard the smartphone express. I was missing out on all kinds of communications stuff, not to mention the ability to post work-related stuff from practically anywhere.

So over the weekend, I got an iPhone 3GS. And I must say: this thing is amazing. And it syncs so nicely with my desktop Mac--contacts, photos, email accounts, databases, you-name-it.

I had never done texting before on my old phone. So yesterday I sent my niece Paula, home with her newborn Owen, a text. She replied very quickly. Said texting can be addicting.

It's great to be able to Twitter from anywhere. I've even posted a couple photos to TwitPic directly from my iPhone. Pix of my cats, of course.

The array of downloadable apps is incredible. For news, my favorite is the USA Today app. The Facebook app does great at checking status messages. I've got nearly 50 apps so far, most of them freebies.

We use DeliciousLibrary to catalog our home library of about 1500 books. A neat little app enabled me to move the entire library to the iPhone. Now, if I ever wonder, "Do I already have this book?", I can just consult my iPhone.

I may even use the iPhone to make phone calls.

I contribute occasionally to our denominational blog, called "The Bishopblog." Last week I wrote about attending a Communications Roundtable in Indy, spearheaded by a wonderful Christian design/promotion/branding/etc. firm called Fishhook. The topic was media relations for churches. My Bishopblog post gave some of my notes.