Monday, October 13, 2008
Quote o' the day
“Every concept formed by the intellect in an attempt to comprehend and circumscribe the divine nature can succeed only in fashioning an idol, not in making God known.” - Gregory of Nyssa, “Life of Moses”
Monday, September 1, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
What the heck?
Brain Lateralization Test Results |
| Right Brain (66%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (24%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain |
Are You Right or Left Brained?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
New Addiction
Featured in the September issue of Food & Wine is my new favorite place on earth:
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/where-to-go-next-best-us-coffee-bars
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/where-to-go-next-best-us-coffee-bars
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Q & A
Relevant Magazine recently asked,
"As the Church moves forward in the new millennium, what is the biggest problem facing the body of Christ?"
Chuck Colson:
"We have substituted therapy for Truth. We hear a feel-good message, and we’ve lost our understanding of the basic truths of Christianity. The world is defining us by the attacks of aggressive secularists, best-selling authors who admit to being anti-theists. They will continue to define us unless we learn how to define ourselves—and not only define ourselves, but live out our faith in such a way that people can see the invisible Kingdom made visible in our midst."
"As the Church moves forward in the new millennium, what is the biggest problem facing the body of Christ?"
Chuck Colson:
"We have substituted therapy for Truth. We hear a feel-good message, and we’ve lost our understanding of the basic truths of Christianity. The world is defining us by the attacks of aggressive secularists, best-selling authors who admit to being anti-theists. They will continue to define us unless we learn how to define ourselves—and not only define ourselves, but live out our faith in such a way that people can see the invisible Kingdom made visible in our midst."
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Are you a chaplain?
I had coffee with a very good friend yesterday morning. What was supposed to be 30 minutes of getting caught up turned into 2 hours. We talked about what has happened over the past few months since we had last gotten together. I've only known this friend for 15 months and so even now we are still sharing more and more of our story and how we came to be where we are.
I was telling him about a phone call from another friend the week before where we discussed his struggles with a potential inappropriate workplace relationship when the topic of a former pastor came up. I was describing this pastor's week as roughly 40 hours of office time in sermon/teaching prep with an occasional trip to the hospital, wedding and/or funeral....no time in the community, no time in a small group, no relationships with the lost, no feeding the hungry or clothing the poor....nothing that I believe Jesus came to die for. His response has had me thinking ever since:
"So....he was your chaplain."
He went on talking but I glazed over (I'm not a very good listener at times). Let me stop and say this is in no way meant to bemean the role of a chaplain. I've only known two people who were chaplains and both were amazing people. I guess I'm stuck on how some people who call themselves pastors and that take on that incredible task can get to a place where they believe that 90% of their life should be given to sermon preparation.
I truly believe that he was/is a product of a lot of things but mostly a time and place that takes the idea of the equipping of the saints as they (try) to do the rest of the Bible.....literally. I guess the idea is, "I'm just called to equip the saints." How anyone can get to a place where they believe they are in no way called as a Christian to get out and live life among the world and put "their money where their mouth is", is beyond me.
I know this generation is passing away. Most of the pastors I know spend intentional time outside the walls of the church engaging this wonderful world that Jesus came to die for and have a pretty good grasp of God's mission of reconciliation. Many of the pastors I know and interact with are actually trying to figure out how to get more of themselves and the money that comes in back into the community to meet the needs of the least, last and lost.
As always, I apologize that you choose to be subjected to my ramblings....just my way of processing the ideas bouncing around in my head about the idea of pastors as chaplains.
I was telling him about a phone call from another friend the week before where we discussed his struggles with a potential inappropriate workplace relationship when the topic of a former pastor came up. I was describing this pastor's week as roughly 40 hours of office time in sermon/teaching prep with an occasional trip to the hospital, wedding and/or funeral....no time in the community, no time in a small group, no relationships with the lost, no feeding the hungry or clothing the poor....nothing that I believe Jesus came to die for. His response has had me thinking ever since:
"So....he was your chaplain."
He went on talking but I glazed over (I'm not a very good listener at times). Let me stop and say this is in no way meant to bemean the role of a chaplain. I've only known two people who were chaplains and both were amazing people. I guess I'm stuck on how some people who call themselves pastors and that take on that incredible task can get to a place where they believe that 90% of their life should be given to sermon preparation.
I truly believe that he was/is a product of a lot of things but mostly a time and place that takes the idea of the equipping of the saints as they (try) to do the rest of the Bible.....literally. I guess the idea is, "I'm just called to equip the saints." How anyone can get to a place where they believe they are in no way called as a Christian to get out and live life among the world and put "their money where their mouth is", is beyond me.
I know this generation is passing away. Most of the pastors I know spend intentional time outside the walls of the church engaging this wonderful world that Jesus came to die for and have a pretty good grasp of God's mission of reconciliation. Many of the pastors I know and interact with are actually trying to figure out how to get more of themselves and the money that comes in back into the community to meet the needs of the least, last and lost.
As always, I apologize that you choose to be subjected to my ramblings....just my way of processing the ideas bouncing around in my head about the idea of pastors as chaplains.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Post of the year!
I read a ton of blog posts every day. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50. It goes without saying that I don't read every word of every post but I do skim all of them to find the ones that I am interested in. As you may or may not know, there is a synchroblog of some 50 people today posting on the word "missional" (the rest of the folks are listed at the bottom of David's post). I guess it is the nature of my interests but about a dozen of the people taking part are in my google reader. This link will take you to what is, right now, the best post I've read this year. I guess it is because I'm a recovering mega-church member. My family and I have been a part of 3 different mega-churches over the past 10 years in 3 different cities and two different states. There are many positive things about mega-churches but in the end, we decided that for us, the negatives (probably not the right word) outweighed the positives. I've struggled to put my feelings into words on why we had to leave LifeChurch but, where I have failed, David Fitch has excelled. Do you ever read something that makes you wonder if that person has been offloading brainwaves from you? That was this post for me.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
WOW!!!
The story and the art really moved me:
http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/sacred_images/lord_jesus_of_many_faces.html
http://mattstone.blogs.com/photos/sacred_images/lord_jesus_of_many_faces.html
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
No dialogue, No theology
This is a post from Matt Stone who blogs at Glocal Christianity:
Someone having trouble? You need to study your Bible and find out what it says for your problem. We have reduced the Bible to nothing more than a book full of answers to our questions/problems. Don't believe me? Check out a guy named Hank Hanegraaff.
I'm glad that in many places the idea is shifting back to a theology of "faith seeking dialogue". Does this mean that you and I ultimately decide what is truth and what isn't? I guess my unlearned answer is that for me, theology shouldn't be determined by a text book that applies to everyone everywhere. Theology is something that is lived out in context. So, the people that live in that context are largely responsible (through the power of the Holy Spirit) for deciding how our faith gets fleshed out in our context. Are we really deciding what is truth for us and what isn't? Not really. Although that is the claim from the fear mongers who are trying to protect and preserve and outdated and broken model. For me it is a matter of trying to figure out how to apply the Biblical narrative in the context that God has me in. Nothing more nothing less.
I was reading an article on Indian theology and found an interesting morsel to chew on.
One of the problems with Christianity of late is that we've followed the modern mindset into believing that Theology is just like anything else that you might study in college. You have a text book and you discover or learn faith by studying your textbook and finding the truth.Eminent Indian theologian Felix Wilfred, who heads Chennai's Department of Christian Studies, emphasizes the indispensability of dialogue in contextual theology. Indian theology is "faith seeking dialogue"... modifying St. Anselm's classical definition of theology being "faith seeking understanding."
Someone having trouble? You need to study your Bible and find out what it says for your problem. We have reduced the Bible to nothing more than a book full of answers to our questions/problems. Don't believe me? Check out a guy named Hank Hanegraaff.
I'm glad that in many places the idea is shifting back to a theology of "faith seeking dialogue". Does this mean that you and I ultimately decide what is truth and what isn't? I guess my unlearned answer is that for me, theology shouldn't be determined by a text book that applies to everyone everywhere. Theology is something that is lived out in context. So, the people that live in that context are largely responsible (through the power of the Holy Spirit) for deciding how our faith gets fleshed out in our context. Are we really deciding what is truth for us and what isn't? Not really. Although that is the claim from the fear mongers who are trying to protect and preserve and outdated and broken model. For me it is a matter of trying to figure out how to apply the Biblical narrative in the context that God has me in. Nothing more nothing less.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Drugs are my friend...
Thank goodness for Oxycodone. I never thought I would be able to say that....see previous posts for details about what it has done to my mom (who is doing very well now). For me, it has been a blessing over the past few days. While trying to finish up some yard work on Sunday morning, I was squatted down finishing cutting down a tree in my front yard. When I got finished and tried to stand up, my back gave out and I ended up on my knees. Long story longer, I eventually had to give up on walking and decided to crawl back into the house. I have a pinched nerve that has caused a lot of pain in my back and left leg. I've been to see the Chiro twice a day and he has me almost back to normal. I've taken a few pills over the course of the last 48 hours, but only when the pain got so bad I couldn't find a position to lay in that eased the pain. That stuff is amazing and I could see where someone might get hooked....you can go from completely miserable with unbearable pain to feeling good and not giving a damn about anything in the span of less than 30 minutes.
The moral of the story is to trim your trees yearly, not decadely.
Much Love,
PB
The moral of the story is to trim your trees yearly, not decadely.
Much Love,
PB
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
20 reasons to drop 20 pounds.
This is from Men's Health and gave me a few laughs...I laughed hardest at number 3:
1. Because you whine that you need to. Have you ever been wrong about anything?
2. Twenty pounds of warm human fat can refill every bottle in an empty case of beer, with enough left over to fill your blender.
3. The statement "There's more of me to love" has an actual bedroom translation of "There's more of me to endure."
4. It's not scaling Everest or writing the great American novel. You can do it in your spare time.
5. You'll speak of toaster pastries the way you talk about that dirty blonde from the blues bar in Berkeley, another whiskey-soaked lament over a love too great to last.
6. It's the difference between being thought of as jolly or witty.
7. You'll lose weight everywhere, including the suprapubic fat pad at the base of your penis. So as your belly shrinks, something else appears to grow.
8. Decreased: your chances of developing heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, sleep apnea, depression, back pain, impotence, gallstones, joint problems, high blood pressure, low sperm counts, and an impressive collection of prescription-drug bottles.
9. Increased: your chances of putting four fingers on a basketball rim.
10. You'll literally get closer to women.
11. Holy sh-- . . . abs!
12. Men who lose weight never have less sex. They may not have more, mind you, but they never have less.
13. You'll shock the world at your local pool by being the only "big splash" champ to win the "little splash" crown.
14. Research shows that since you'll have less weight propelling you into the windshield, you'll also have less risk of dying when your car hits a semi.
15. Every time you pick up a 20-pound dumbbell, you'll remember.
16. You'll be able to reach even more places to scratch.
17. The clothing cliche: It's liberating the first time your pants fall down by themselves.
18. More pullups, because there's less to pull up.
19. Wait till you ride a WaveRunner, quad, or snowmobile when you're 20 pounds lighter. Vroom, baby.
20. In our society, people respect weight loss. Even if you do nothing cool or interesting or memorable for the rest of your life, you'll have done that.
1. Because you whine that you need to. Have you ever been wrong about anything?
2. Twenty pounds of warm human fat can refill every bottle in an empty case of beer, with enough left over to fill your blender.
3. The statement "There's more of me to love" has an actual bedroom translation of "There's more of me to endure."
4. It's not scaling Everest or writing the great American novel. You can do it in your spare time.
5. You'll speak of toaster pastries the way you talk about that dirty blonde from the blues bar in Berkeley, another whiskey-soaked lament over a love too great to last.
6. It's the difference between being thought of as jolly or witty.
7. You'll lose weight everywhere, including the suprapubic fat pad at the base of your penis. So as your belly shrinks, something else appears to grow.
8. Decreased: your chances of developing heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes, sleep apnea, depression, back pain, impotence, gallstones, joint problems, high blood pressure, low sperm counts, and an impressive collection of prescription-drug bottles.
9. Increased: your chances of putting four fingers on a basketball rim.
10. You'll literally get closer to women.
11. Holy sh-- . . . abs!
12. Men who lose weight never have less sex. They may not have more, mind you, but they never have less.
13. You'll shock the world at your local pool by being the only "big splash" champ to win the "little splash" crown.
14. Research shows that since you'll have less weight propelling you into the windshield, you'll also have less risk of dying when your car hits a semi.
15. Every time you pick up a 20-pound dumbbell, you'll remember.
16. You'll be able to reach even more places to scratch.
17. The clothing cliche: It's liberating the first time your pants fall down by themselves.
18. More pullups, because there's less to pull up.
19. Wait till you ride a WaveRunner, quad, or snowmobile when you're 20 pounds lighter. Vroom, baby.
20. In our society, people respect weight loss. Even if you do nothing cool or interesting or memorable for the rest of your life, you'll have done that.
quote o the day
This came at the end of one of my conference calls that I have to be a part of every Monday morning (we bankers were off yesterday):
"All mankind is divided into three classes: Those that are immovable, those that are movable and those that get moving!"
- Unknown
I have no idea where this came from but I immediately thought about how this quote, which was being used in a business/work context, applies to our daily lives as Christ followers. I'm sure you can think of different people in your life that fit each of the three categories. Which category fits you best?
Unfortunately, I spent the better part of over a decade trying to maintain the "immovable" image. I had my systematic theology, ecclesiology, soteriology and all the other "ologies" down into a perfectly immovable system. That is our number one calling in life right? According to many people it was and still is. After all, if the Christian life is all about going to Heaven what else are we supposed to do while here on Earth?
Thanks to some great friends, I am beginning to live out a much healthier, more holistic Christian life. I would no longer characterize myself as immovable and with God's help, I will never be there again. I think there is a huge misconception that theology is something that has an answer and that we are to figure it out so it can be settled. May God grant us grace to live a life that is worthy of the calling placed on our lives. May it always be about openness. May we be open to new ideas, new friends, new ways of looking at the world, new depths of our faith and new ideas shared by others.
Closed minded and "immovable" can only lead to atrophy and ultimately death. Let's encourage one another to be "movable" and to "get moving". It's fine to memorize another scripture but for me, it is about trying to figure out how to live out the ones I already know.
PB
"All mankind is divided into three classes: Those that are immovable, those that are movable and those that get moving!"
- Unknown
I have no idea where this came from but I immediately thought about how this quote, which was being used in a business/work context, applies to our daily lives as Christ followers. I'm sure you can think of different people in your life that fit each of the three categories. Which category fits you best?
Unfortunately, I spent the better part of over a decade trying to maintain the "immovable" image. I had my systematic theology, ecclesiology, soteriology and all the other "ologies" down into a perfectly immovable system. That is our number one calling in life right? According to many people it was and still is. After all, if the Christian life is all about going to Heaven what else are we supposed to do while here on Earth?
Thanks to some great friends, I am beginning to live out a much healthier, more holistic Christian life. I would no longer characterize myself as immovable and with God's help, I will never be there again. I think there is a huge misconception that theology is something that has an answer and that we are to figure it out so it can be settled. May God grant us grace to live a life that is worthy of the calling placed on our lives. May it always be about openness. May we be open to new ideas, new friends, new ways of looking at the world, new depths of our faith and new ideas shared by others.
Closed minded and "immovable" can only lead to atrophy and ultimately death. Let's encourage one another to be "movable" and to "get moving". It's fine to memorize another scripture but for me, it is about trying to figure out how to live out the ones I already know.
PB
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
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