Junk Drawer Spirituality

The Cockney Bible

I was just reading a BBC article about new Bible versions and translations that are being marketed to reach new crowds.  There's a coffee-table book version of the Bible, a Manga Bible (that's Japanese animation for those who don't know), but I discovered a new Bible translation that was produced in 2001 that got me really, really excited-- The Bible in Cockney.

If you're unfamiliar with the term "cockney," it's an east London dialect that was made famous in movies such as "Oliver Twist."  You know . . . "Why, 'ello guvna."  They actually made a Bible translation written in Cockney dialect.  In it, Jesus feeds "five thousand geezers" with "five loaves of Uncle Fred and two Lillian Gish."  Needless to say, I went to Amazon.com immediately and ordered it. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving In Texas

This morning, I flew to Texas to visit family for Thanksgiving.  It's been a long day of travel, but it feels good to see the people I love again.  Eating some Turkey tomorrow, watching the Cowboys and the Aggies, then Friday we're going to do some hunting.  Hard to beat that.

The Real Saul, Sloppy Pitching

It was a little league baseball game, and I was only 11 years old.  I was not a particularly impressive athlete in any of my childhood sporting endeavors, including my short-lived stint in little league.  I spent most of my time in right field where I endured the boredom of the game by making mounds of grass and dirt, occasionally lifting my head in the off-chance that a ball was actually swatted in my general direction.  I was in little league baseball's "no-man's land."  But occasionally I had the opportunity to make the leap from least on the defensive roster to greatest.  On a few occasions, I was given the opportunity to pitch.  Pitching is the creme de la creme of little league.  And I actually spent some time practicing my pitching between games.  I wanted to pitch. . . badly.

Seven Days of Sex

Ed Young from Fellowship Church in the Dallas area, just made the New York Times because of his latest sermon series where he challenged all married couples in his congregation to have sex for seven straight days as a means of strengthening their marriage.

It seems like a great idea for a sermon series, and as my friends Jim and Sheri Mueller say, who lead a not-for profit marriage minsitry called Growthtrac, sex is one of the most important areas of marriage enrichment couples need to work through.  I'm glad to hear Christians are trying to tackle it . . . no pun intended.  

Out of Gas

There have only been two times in my life when, while driving, I completely ran out of gas like a nincompoop.  The first time, I was about 17 years old and I was driving with a friend and a good looking girl I had just met.  I was driving on the highway in my hometown, and I felt the familiar jerkiness of a car nearing the "E" on the gas meter.  So I quickly found an exit . . . a gas station sat ontop a hill at the end of the road but we didn't quite make it.  The car came to a hault.  But I was 17, and it was a warm Saturday night in the Texas summer.  And we were just cruisin' around town doing nothing anyway. So my buddy and I hopped out of my car and started pushing from behind while the cute girl took the wheel and steered us to the gas station.  It created alittle adventure on a boring night in Amarillo Texas, and I had the opportunity to impress a cute little filly with both my silliness and my hulking strength :).

The second time I completely drained my gas tank was this afternoon.  There were no friends with me to help me push.  There was no attractive females to impress.  It was just me. . . alone . . . on a cold, wintery, windy, Chicago afternoon sitting in my truck on 75th, with cars whizzing by me, wondering how I forgot to put gas in my car today.  I walked only a mile or two to the nearest 7-11 to buy a gas can and some gasoline, but I didn't have a jacket . . . and did I mention it was COLD and WINDY?  The second experience wasn't nearly as interesting as the first.              

Stupid Joke of The Day

Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac?  He'd stay up all night wondering if there really was a dog.

An Aggie's Misery Loves Company

I know I should root for my fellow Texas teams: the University of Texas . . . Texas Tech.  And truthfully, I guess I was pulling for Texas Tech today to beat Oklahoma.  They're  the underdog, and I almost always root for the underdog.  But Tech lost, and I'm smiling on the inside. 

If you didn't know, coming into tonight's game, Tech was ranked #2, Oklahoma was ranked #5, and if Tech had won, they would have been a "sure in" to the National Championship game.  Instead, Tech got whipped by almost 50 points.  As a Texan, I should be disappointed, but there's a part of me that just LOVES it when UT and Tech lose.  When ESPN was talking about Texas Tech and Mike Leach's group of West Texas misfits going to the National Championship last week, I threw up in my mouth alittle.  It was really painful for my Maroon and white, Texas Aggie ears to hear.

Of course my Alma Mater, Texas A&M, is nowhere near National Championship talk right now, so it shouldn't really matter to me; but it does.  I don't want Tech fans and UT fans to rejoice in a good season.  I don't want High School recruits to start looking at Texas Tech as a great place to play football.  I want all Tech fans and all Texas fans to feel as utterly miserable as I am as an Aggie fan this season.  It's pathetic, I know . . . but I can't help it.  I'm just a grouchy, envious, Aggie living in the football nostalgia of the 1990s and wishing I could get excited about college football again.

How To Leave A Church

I found this interesting article written by a guy named Ray Pritchard.  It's a short article about how to leave a church with integrity.  As a person who has both been left AND done the leaving at different points in my life as a church-goer and pastor, I know that sometimes leaving a church to go elsewhere is a part of life.  It's not a part of the Christian experience that I particularly like, or that I always feel is necessary.  But sometimes it needs to happen in order for both people and churches to learn and grow.  I thought it was a pretty interesting article, and something church-goers should discuss before bolting any place of worship.    

The Herrick Family "Elfed"

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

World Philosophy Day

In honor of "World Philosophy Day" I offer you this link to a BBC article posing 4 interesting thought experiments to make your brain hurt, acquiesce, and begin oozing out your ear.  Enjoy!

I Got Bamboozled!

In the middle of a meeting this afternoon, when I should have been paying attention, I drifted over to my Hotmail account to check my email, when something bizzare happened.  All of the sudden, a little Windows XP-looking window popped up with the header "Anti-Virus 2009."  It said I just got infected with something, and to click "here" to get rid of it.  So I clicked, which sent me to another page to install the latest version of Anti-Virus 2009, which would run a scan of my computer and get rid of this horrible infection.  It looked legit. . .  it looked like a Windows program.  And so I got it, and it ran a "scan" and detected that I had 135 infected files and some particularly scary sounding viruses that were posing an immanent threat at crashing my whole system.

The Real Saul, God in My Corner

I have been on hiatus from Saul for a few weeks, mainly because I've been unsure how to approach the text I'm currently staring at now.  I've started, and stopped, and started again, thinking I know what to write and then getting side-tracked or confused.  Previously, I posted about the fact that Saul had been crippled by deep insecurities.  God had told him he was to be king, but Saul didn't believe it.  In fact he hid.  And when scoundrels criticized Saul's ability, I think seeds of doubt imbedded themselves deep in Saul's heart, only to reappear later in life.

But this passage is a passage of triumph. . . .

Christianity Today Article On Waterfront

Since the Tribune article on Waterfront came out this week we've seen a few others pick up the story, including Christianity Today.  Here's a short article about Waterfront in CT.

Waterfront Article in The Chicago Tribune

This morning, the Chicago Tribune wrote up an article on Waterfront Community Church.  It's a great article and well-written.  The "Tribune" has a daily circulation of 566,827. Check out the article here.

The Congo's Children

This article made me sad.  It's talking about Congolese children and the dangerous conditions in which they live because of the violence over the last few weeks.  The article says "North Kivu is quite possibly the worst place [in the world] to be a child." 

Monday At the Zoo

I had a great Monday.  It was the one sunny and semi-temperate day we've had since last Wednesday, and I took the whole day off and went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with a friend.  It's been years since I've been to a zoo.  I stood about one foot away from a gigantic male lion with a large wooly mame staring me in the face . . . we were seperated by a thick pane of glass, but still . . .

We saw giant gorillas and chimps eating and throwing poo.  I saw monkeys, giraffes, tigers, bears, seals, lizards of all shapes and sizes.  It was pretty cool.  I don't know why I don't go to the zoo more often.  You get to see some of the most tremendous creations God has ever made, and if you go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, it's totally free.  For me, not to over-spiritualize it, but I think I got alittle closer to God that day.   

Church Marketing And Starbucks

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video.  It's a "parable" exploring what it would be like if Starbucks were to market their business like churches market themselves . . . it's an interesting critique of the way we try to reach people and pretty funny too.

The Cold Weather Is Here!

Early this week we had weather in the mid-seventies.  It was beautiful and completely un-November like.  Today, the bottom fell out and I have a feeling winter just showed up and it's here to stay.  Bummer.

We Have A New President

CNN has just projected that Senator Barak Obama will be the next president of the United States.  There are a couple of things I'm thinking and feeling right now as a result of this announcement, which I think are completely non-partisan:

1. I'm SOOOOOOO happy that the election is over.  I passionately despise campaign mud-slinging and all of the silly stuff that happens when right or left wing sub-groups over-zealously attack the candidate they oppose with blatant misrepresentations and speculations.  All that negativity makes me tired and I don't think it's good for people's souls.
2. Regardless of how you feel about Barak Obama's views, ideas, policies, voting record, etc., it is an historic day with the election of our first African American president.  No matter your political views, this is a feat in American politics that should make all of us proud, and I'm happy that I had the opportunity to see it in my life-time.

3. I sincerely hope that the polarization that has plagued political discourse for the past 20+ years will begin to fade, and that Obama will help bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington.  Again, political philosophy aside, he's a guy who certainly has the charismatic potential to garner support on both sides of the aisle, but I think Obama's ability to do so will require cooperative humility and initiative from both Republicans and Democrats.  

Crooked Still At the Morse Theater

Last Saturday, a guy who used to be in my College Minsitry in Colorado, Daniel Whitenack, came to visit.  Daniel goes to Grad School at Purdue and is now studying Phyics and doing all kinds of other smart-people stuff.  But Daniel called and told me that a band he really likes was playing in Chicago, so he drove up, and we went to see them on Saturday.

The band was a folk/modern Bluegrass band from Massachussets called Crooked Still.  They were really terrific.  If you're into Nickel Creek or other folk/bluegrassy-type music (or even if you've never been exposed to folk music) you need to check them out, especially their cover of "Orphan Girl."  They were great.  And the venue was awesome . . . a place on the north side of Chicago just south of Evanston called The Morse Theater.  Apparently, it had just been renovated and reopened in the last month, but it was a great place to watch and listen to any show.  Great acoustics, great service, looked good, and it was comfortable.  I think just about any show would be a pretty enjoyable experience there.  Here's a Tribune article on the new Morse Theater.