Overwhelmed

As of the most recent report, 12,000 people in China are dead because of the massive earthquake that hit them this week.

22,000 people in Myanmar are dead from a cyclone.  Millions of others are homeless, and the dictatorship that sickeningly calls itself a government in Myanmar will not allow foreign aid into the country while the people starve in the streets.

I was discussing these events with someone I work with and his reponse to the death toll in Myanmar was; “Good.  That’s less mouths to feed.”

My heart is broken.  It is broken over the massive loss of human life.  These are image-bearers of God.  These are people that God loves, that He died for.  My heart is broken because of the attitudes like the one displayed by my coworker and I can’t help but wonder how many “Christians” in this country are thinking the same thing.

I feel so overwhelmed and I wonder:  What can the church do?  How should the church of Jesus Christ respond?

God grant us wisdom so that we can know Your heart and will and grant us the grace and power to carry it out.

 

Dealing With Gray Areas

A few years ago, I was sitting in church and the preacher was all fired up.  He was talking about personal holiness and how apparently all of us there that day were lacking in that area.  He then referred to some movie that was out that happened to be rated-R.  With a fist he pounded the podium and said; “I don’t see how anyone who calls themself a Christian could possibly go to a rated-R movie!”

I don’t remember a single word of that sermon besides that one statement.  I think I remember it because it seemed so…personal.  By “personal” I mean that it seemed like he was making his personal convictions universal and the only thing I could think of was; “Who in the heck do you think you are?”

Does it really mean I am not born again if I choose to go see a rated-R movie?  If I am born again and I go see a rated-R movie, does that then mean that I am no longer a Christian?  Where is all of this in Scripture?

The truth is, it isn’t in Scripture.  No matter how much so many pastors would love to say that God says you can’t go see a rated-R movies, or smoke cigarettes, or chew tobacco, or listen to secualr music, or play cards, or play video games, or any of the other “sins” that have been added to the list over the years, the fact is that the Bible is silent on most of these issues and has quite a bit of gray area in many others.

For instance, should a Christian drink alcohol?  What does the Bible say about it?  A lot actually but nothing really conclusive:

• 1 Timothy 5:23 - Paul tells Timothy that he should drink wine to help with his stomach problems.
• Ephesians 5:18 - Paul tells us not to become drunk with wine because that is excess, but he certainly doesn’t say don’t drink it at all.
• Proverbs 20:1 - Solomon says that wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler and the person who is led astray by them is not wise.

But should we as Christians drink or not?  personally, I like to drink a beer now and then or a glass of wine periodically, but I know others who are convinced that if you drink even a single drop of alcohol, you cannot possibly be a Christian.  So which is it?

Yesterday in church, my pastor shared with us what I believe is one of the most balanced approaches to these moral “gray areas” that I have ever heard, and I wanted to share it with you.  The principles below have as their foundation, the understanding that we are all saved in order to bring glory to God.  Every day and in everything we do, we must seek to honor and glorify God.  Remember Solus Christis–saved by grace alone, through Christ alone, for God’s glory alone.

Three Principles for Dealing with Moral Gray Areas:

1.  Grace Over Legalism:  Romans 6:14 - We should never universalize our own personal convictions.  If I feel that it is wrong for me to watch a rated-R movie, then without a doubt it is sin for me to do so, but I do not have the right to tell you that you cannot watch a rated-R movie and call yourself a Christian because of my personal convictions.

2.  Love Over Liberty:  1 Corinthians 10:23-33 - I must limit my own liberty out of love for others.  My liberty in Christ NEVER gives me the right to harm someone else.  For instance, when I am around friends who believe that it is wrong for Christians to drink, then I don’t drink, even though I personally don’t have a problem with it.  I limit my own liberty in Christ in order not to offend my brother or sister in Christ.

3.  Apply a Christ-Centered Filter:  Philippians 4:8 - Before we allow any form of activity or entertainment into our life, let’s see if it passes the Philippians 4:8 test.  We should ask ourselves; “Is this activity, movie, book, TV show, CD, or whatever:  True, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy?”  If it isn’t, then it isn’t for us as disciples of Christ.  If it is, and it passes the first two principles, then we can engage in it with a clear conscience before God and man.

The truth is, when we apply these principles, a lot of gray areas, become very black and white don’t they?

“Christ Plays in 10,000 Places” Chapter 1

in 2006 I read Eugene Peterson’s Eat This Book, the second volume in his theology series.  It was fantastic.  A few days ago, I waded into the first volume in the series called Christ Plays in 10,000 Places and quickly found myself up to my neck and loving every second of it.

I have decided to take one post per week and briefly explore this excellent book chapter by chapter.

In the book’s first chapter; Clearing the Playing Field, Peterson seeks to make sure that all of his readers are “on the same page” regarding the kind of life he is talking about when he refers to Christianity and exactly what it means to be “spiritual.”  The term is used so often it can mean a plethora of things and we have to be very cautious when using that term in reference to Christian discipleship.  His writing in this chapter has much to say about the problematic practice heresy of “syncretism,” which I wrote about here.

Let’s look at some quotes that best seem to sum up the content of the chapter and what Peterson seems to be communicating to his readers when he refers to “spiritual theology.”

“spirituality is not a body of secert lore.  spirituality has nothing to do with aptitude or temperment, spirituality is not primarily about you or me; it is not about personal power or enrichment.  It is about God.”  (pg. 19)

Spirituality is not improved by fantasies.  The Christian life is not a field in which to indulge pious dreams.  By accepting Jesus as the final and definitive revelation of God, the Christian Church makes it impossible for us to make up our own customized versions of the spiritual life and get away with it, not that we don’t try.  But we can’t get around him or away from him:  Jesus is the incarnation of God, God among us and with us.  (pg. 33)

“…In our current culture, ’soul’ has given way to ’self’ as the term of choice to designate who and what we are.  Self is the soul minus God.  Self is what is left of soul with all the trancendence and intimacy squeezed out, the self with little or no reference to God or others.”  (pg. 37)

“…There is also something about the sacred that makes us uneasy.  We don’t like being in the dark, not knowing what to do.  And so we attempt to domesticate the mystery, explain it, probe it, name and use it.  ‘Blasphemy’ is the term we use for these verbal transgressions of the sacred, these violations of the holy:  taking God’s name in vain, dishonoring sacred time and place, reducing God to gossip and chatter.  Uncomfortable with the mystery, we try to banish it with cliches.”  (pg. 42)

There is immense peer pressure to fit immediate needs and expectations.  But God is never a commodity to use.  In a functionalized world in which we are all trained to understand ourselves in terms of what we can do, we are faced with a reality that we cannot control.  And so we cultivate reverence.  We are in the presence of One who is both before and beyond us.  We listen and wait.  Presumption–God on demand on our terms–is exposed as simply silly.  Defining God down to the level of our emotions, and thinking and then demanding that God work by the terms of our agenda, is set aside in favor of a life of worship and prayer, obedience and love–a way of life open and responsive to what God is doing rather than one in which we plot strategies to get God involved in what we are doing… (pg. 46)

Although he puts it much more eloquently than I, there are several points I take away from this 1st chapter:

1.  My relationship with God is not about me, it is about Him.  I don’t set the terms, make the demands, or let Him know what He needs to do.  I submit.  I obey.  I serve.  I love.  I trust.

2.  God is wholly “other” and yet understands everything I go through in this life.  He is God and therefore so far beyond me that I could never possibly hope to fully comprehend all that He is and He is also the God who became man and Who is very aware of all my temptations, my sufferings and my struggles.

3.  True spirituality begins when God breathes life into me and I am reborn.  Apart from God I have nothing.  I am nothing.  There is no spirituality without the Spirit of the living God.

Next week, Chapter 2:  Exploring the Neighborhood of Creation. 

Primed Mind

Imagine that I have invited you into my office for a brief meeting.  You walk down a long corridor and through my doorway where I ask you to sit down at a table nearby.  I then hand you a piece of paper and a pen.  On the paper is a list of five-word sets.  I ask you to make a grammatical four-word sentence as quickly as possible out of each set.  Ready?

• him was worried she always
• from are Florida oranges temperature
• ball the throw toss silently
• shoes give replace old the
• he observes occassionally people watches
• be will sweat lonely they
• sky the seamless gray is
• should now withdraw forgetful we
• us bingo sing play let
• sunlight makes temperature wrinkle raisins

Simple right?  In fact you probably were thinking of sentences using those words as you read them.  Here’s where this gets weird though.  When you leave my office after this test, you will walk slower down the hallway going out than you did when you came in.  Why?  Because I primed your mind using my test to think you were old.

Within the word sets you were reading words like “worried,” “Florida,” “old,” “lonely,” “gray,” “bingo,” and “wrinkle.”  These words will have the effect of priming your mind to think about being old and you will therefore walk more slowly down the hallway as a result.  Don’t believe me?

This experiment was actually performed by psychologist John Bargh and was discussed in the fascinating book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.  It seems that our minds are easily primed for action by subtle suggestion in the forms of words and images.  Why else would you want a hamburger at 2:00 am after watching a commercial showing one looking all appetizing and hearing words like “juicy,” and “delicious?”

This phenomenon should make us a little more cautious and a lot more deliberate about what we allow to prime our minds don’t you think?

 

  The apostle Paul seemed to understand this perfectly when he wrote to the Philippian church:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. (Philippians 4:8, NIV, emphasis mine)

Or what about his word to us in Romans?

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8, NIV)

So how do we prime our minds with thoughts that will be pleasing and honoring to the Father and that will enable us to walk with purpose for His kingdom?  I have two general suggestions:

1.  We must be careful what we allow into our minds.  For instance, will that latest episode of Desperate Housewives prime our thoughts and actions to be God-honoring?  Methinks not.

2.  We must be deliberate about what we put into our minds.  We should be filling our mind with Scripture, great books, great music, prayers, and praise.  Remember the words of David in Psalm 119:11; “I have hidden your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you.”

I will close this post with a word from the apostle Peter who wrote;

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ (1 Peter 1:13-16, NIV, emphasis mine)

I Learned a New Word Today

On the elevator in my building is a screen that flashes headlines, sports scores and interesting tid bits to keep you engaged while you ride up to your floor–and of course–to sell you stuff.  One of the features is a “Word of the Day.”  Today’s word was syncretism, which means;

“The attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.”

Used in a sentence the screen read; “Robert practiced sycretism in that he took many different religious beliefs and used the parts he liked to create his own system of beliefs.”

Yikes.

Years ago, I was working in a law firm and became friends with several of the attorneys there.  One of them was very interested in religion and since he knew that I was a Chrstian, he and I began to have discussions about spiritual things.  One day he said to me;

“I think it doesn’t matter what you believe.  If you want to be Muslim, Buddhist, or a combination of multiple religions that’s fine, as long as you just believe something.”

I smiled and said; “You know, that sounds great.  It really does, and it would certainly seem to make everything a lot easier, but there is one major problem with it–Jesus Christ.  Jesus said; ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by me.’  There simply is no relationship with God apart from Christ, He alone is the way, no other way will do.”

I’d love to be able to say that he he repented of his sins and put his faith in Christ, but he didn’t, he just looked at me and smiled.  It was a smile that said; “You poor ignorant fool.  That’s not very modern thinking now is it?”

Where the world practices syncretism, Christians believe in something called Solus Christus–salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, for God’s glory alone.  There simply is no other way.

That doesn’t make us very popular.  I have personally been called intolerant, biased, closed-minded, and just plain stupid because I am firmly convinced that Jesus Christ is THE.  ONLY.  WAY.

A friend of mine helped plant a church in Maryland.  The church grew and God was blessing it.  One day in a staff meeting, the pastor announced that the church would no longer be talking about salvation.  They were going to focus on following the teachings of Jesus, and helping others to follow them but they weren’t going to mention the gospel anymore.

My friend said; “Excuse me, but what about the cross?  What about repentence and faith in Christ and living life in submission to His Lordship to bring glory to the Father?

“We aren’t going to talk about those things.”  The pastor said.  “They might offend people that come to church here who see Jesus as a teacher, but not as the only way to have a relationship with God.”

I wish I could say this story is fictional.  It isn’t.

The word gospel means “good news,” but remember that anything besides Solus Christis is no gospel.

It’s a lie.

My Completed Blank Bible

This past weekend I was able to complete my Blank Bible.  I will now take you through the steps I used and share with you some things I will do differently next time.  This is a longer post than I usually write, but it is loaded with pictures, so it’s not too bad.

Where it all started

The idea for creating my own Blank Bible came from a post I read over at The Shepherd’s Scrapbook.  He got the idea from Jonathan Edwards who would paste blank sheets of paper in between the pages of his Bible and use the blanks for notes and observations on the texts.  You can actually purchase a copy of Edwards’ Blank Bible here if you like.

Step One:  Choosing the Bibles

For my Blank Bible, I chose a very simple pew Bible in NIV.  Others who have done this project have used a study Bible and in ESV but I cut my spiritual teeth on the NIV and it is still my version of choice.  I chose to use a pew Bible rather than a study Bible because they are less expensive, and because I like to include my own notes and do my own research rather than having it all handed to me.  But to each his own.  The important point is to choose a version you will actually use.

I chose to use two Bibles because I wanted to split my Blank Bible up into multiple volumes of books rather than one or two volumes (more on this later) and since the text flows from one book into another, I wanted to be able to split the books more easily.

Step Two:  Cutting the covers and the paper

I took the Bibles to my local mail services and print shop and used the owner’s box cutter to remove the covers.  This was a fairly simple process:  Just open the cover of the Bible and where it attaches to the paper, use your box cutter to split it away.  Once the cover is split along the seam, you can pull it off the paper rather easily.

 

 

 

 

Then, the shop owner used his paper cutter to cut 1/8th of an inch off of the spines.  This was enough to remove the glue from the covers, but not enough to cut into the text of the Bible.  Remember, you don’t want to get too close to the text either because then the holes you punch for the spirals will punch through the text.

Next, I chose a ream of acid-free printer paper and had it cut into two bricks matching the size (as closely as possible) of the Bible pages.  The blanks are actually slightly larger than the Bible pages, which creates a nice textured look to the final product. 

Step Three:  Inserting the blank pages

I took everything back to the house and sat down to insert the pages.

 

I divided up the Bible into the following smaller booklets:

• Genesis through Deuteronomy:  1 blank per page of text (in Genesis I used 2 blanks per page of text)
• Joshua through 2 Chronicles:  1 blank per page of text
• Ezra through Job:  1 blank per page of text
• Psalms:  3 blanks per page of text
• Proverbs through Song of Songs:  1 blank per page of text (in Proverbs I used 2 blanks per page of text)
• Isaiah through Daniel:  1 blank per page of text (in Isaiah I used 2 blanks per page of text)
• Hosea through Malachi:  1 blank per page of text
• Matthew through Acts:  2 blanks per page of text
• Romans through Philemon:  2 blanks per page of text
• Hebrews through Revelation:  2 blanks per page of text

All of the inserting took about 1 hour to complete.  It takes this long because you will want to make sure that you are stacking your books neatly and that they are in the correct order.

Step Four:  Binding

I took the completed pages to my local big box office supply store and had them coil bind each volume with black covers and backs.  I will create white lables to stick on the front covers to identify each particular volume.

I chose coil binding because it will lay out flat nicely, and because it can be easily removed and replaced if I want to add additional blank pages in the future.

I picked up the finished volumes on Sunday afternoon and immediately went home to explore them.  Here is a picture of the finished product with a few notes already started on The Great Commission.

 

 

A note on the pens in the photo

I purchased a set of great archive quality pens for marking in my Blank Bible called the Pigma Micron.  The ink in these pens is pigment rather than dye so they won’t fade over time.  In addition, they almost instantly dry so there is no smudging and no bleed through.  They are PERFECT for writing in your Bible.  You can pick up your own at your local hobby shop or art supply store.  I found that the office supply stores generally do not carry them.

Things I will do differently next time

I had a great experience with this project so there are only two things I will do do differently next time:

1.  I would like to try and find a Bible with a thicker stock of paper.  I realize there aren’t many out there, but surely I can find one.

2.  I will do the punching myself.  On multiple pages, the operator punched into the text of the Bible itself.  I would like to try my hand at it to see if I can avoid that.

Overall, I am more than pleased with how this turned out.  I hope you decide to tackle something like this yourself and create this excellent tool for your own study of Scripture.  If you do, please let me know how it goes.

Iron Man is an Iron Clad Hit

The boyos were with the parental units this weekend so Dream Girl and I went out on Saturday afternoon to check out the new Iron Man movie starring the talented Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges and the lovely and talented Gwyneth Paltrow.

 

Based on the semi-popular comic book character created by Stan Lee, the movie is about billionaire playboy weapons designer and genius Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) who is captured by terrorists on a visit to Afghanistan and is forced to construct hyper-advanced destructive missles for his captors.  Instead, with the help of a fellow captive, he creates a suit of weapons-laden armor and uses it to escape.

Having had an epiphany during his experiences in captivity, upon returning to the United States, Stark begins a mission to stop his own company from creating weapons that perpetuate war and terror.  He does this partly by improving and steamlining the suit of armor he created to escape the terrorists and plans to use it to stop them from using his weapons against American troops.  Meanwhile, Stark’s business partner and family friend, the ruthless Obadiah Stane (Bridges) is trying to thwart his plans.  If all this weren’t enough, Stark finds himself falling in love with his assistant, the indispensable Pepper Potts (Paltrow).

I went to see this film sincerely hoping that it would live up to all of its hype.  It does.  But not in the way you would expect.  My expectations were for an action-filled, non-stop thrill ride and although there are plenty of excellently choreographed action sequences, it was not the adrenaline laden movie I was looking for.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film actually had some depth.  The characters were all fully developed and the storyline showed a man struggling for redemption.  Although not a direct protest of the War on Terror, it certainly did not shy away from making a few statements towards that end.  All the while the movie was entertaining and fun to watch.

I am always impressed with the underrated Robert Downey Jr.  He is a brilliant actor (if you have never seen him in Chaplin go out and rent it immediately), and he does not disappoint as Tony Stark.  As you watch him in the film, you become immediately convinced that no one else could possibly have played that part as well as he did.  This is especially true if you are at all familiar with the character in the comic book.

Gwyneth Paltrow is certainly “slumming” in this film considering how incredibly talented she is as an actress.  The character of Pepper Potts is the equivilant of a Juilliard trained actor playing a minor character in a high school play.  Luckily for us, when Paltrow applies her considerable skills to the role she is a joy to watch.

The performance I was most impressed with was that of Jeff Bridges.  I have never seen him play such an evil character before and yet he pulled it off brilliantly.  It is the deliciously subtle nuance in his performance that makes your skin crawl.  He and Downey Jr. work together expertly and seem to feed off of one another’s performances rather than trying to upstage one another as you often find when two actors of that caliber are sharing the camera.

I will admit that your appreciation of the movie will probably be higher if you are actually familiar with the mythos of the characters in the comic books, but you can still enjoy it as an excellent action flick if you aren’t.  There are relatively few drag points, and there is plenty of humor and action to entertain anyone.

As a side note, the movie is fairly family friendly.  They have to establish Stark as a scumbag playboy, but they do so without rubbing our noses in it.  It seemed as if the creators of the film actually recognized that a lot of kids would be seeing it (what a shock) and so they were careful and calculating in the way they portrayed certain scenes.  They were able to say what needed to be said for the sake of the storyline without resorting to anything overtly graphic or offensive.  I tip my hat to them for that courtesy.

I give Iron Man a very solid A.

Friday Miscellany 2

Garden Update

I went out to water and take a look at my garden beds yesterday evening and there is already signs of life!  I have multiple blooms on my tomato plants, I have a plethora of turnips growning and I have three carrots poking up through the dirt!  I am so excited.

I don’t think I will ever get used to watching this miracle of life.  You put some hard, lifeless thing in the ground and a short while later it gives brith to beautiful life!  God is so amazing!

I am still waiting on my watermelon seeds and strawberry plants, but they are on their way.  I will get them in the ground/pots as soon as they arrive.

The Blank Bible Project

I got my second pew Bible for the creation of my Blank Bible.  You can read about what this is here.  I am going to ask my next door neighbor for help in cutting the spines off of the Bibles.  He has a table saw and I don’t.  Besides, he is not a Christian, and it is my hope that this project may open the door for us to talk about the gospel of Christ.  He is a great guy and I have enjoyed getting to know him, but our conversations have not yet lent themselves to the deeper things of life.  I therefore want to get intentional about this.

I also priced a ream of recycled paper to use for the project as well as the bindings.  I am going with wire binding with black coveers and backs and I will print a label for the covers so I know which books of the Bible each volume contains.  I have divided the Bible up into 16 seperate mini volumes.  That way I can put more blank pages in between each page of text for notes.

I am going to take pictures along the way and will give a full report on the process with pictures when I am done.  I just have to figure out how to post pictures on WordPress.

This Weekend

The boys will be with the parental units this weekend.  That means a whole weekend with just me and Dream Girl.  Whoo Hoo!  I am always very thankful for these weekends with just the two of us.  She is my favorite person in the entire world and I can’t imagine anyone else I would rather spend a whole weekend alone with.

One thing we are going to do is check out the new Iron Man movie.  Can’t wait!  I go full on nerd with movies like this and I don’t care who knows it.  It looks like it is going to be a fantastic film if it lives up to its own press.  I will have a review ready to go on Monday.

TV Turnoff Week

As you know we have been observing TV Turnoff Week since Sunday.  I have to admit the first couple of days were pretty tough.  After Monday though it got real easy real fast and I haven’t really missed it at all.  I have gotten a lot of reading done and I have worked on a seminar I am designing on the discpline and practice of personal Bible study.  I have also taken time to just sit and listen to music, or have long in-depth conversations with my wife and boys.  We have played a lot of cards and done a lot of laughing and just enjoying being together.  It’s been great.

Ungrateful Turd

Brennan Manning in his book The Signature of Jesus, tells the following story:

Here is a scenario that plays in my mind: A humble woman seeks me out because of my renown as a spiritual guide. She is simple and direct. ‘Please teach me how to pray.’

Tersely, I inquire, ‘Tell me about your prayer life.’

She lowers her eyes and says contritely, ‘There’s not much to tell. I say grace before meals.’

Haughtily, I reply, ‘You say grace before meals? Isn’t that nice. Madam, I say grace upon waking and retiring and grace before reading the newspaper and turning on the television. I say grace before ambulating and defecating, before the theatre and the opera, before jogging, swimming, hiking, dining, lecturing, writing, I even say grace before I say grace!’

And God whispers to me: ‘You ungrateful turd. Even the desire to say grace is itself my gift.’

Lately, I have become accutely aware of my own “turdness.”  I have been blessed with so much and yet I express a heart of thankfulness so little.  James said this;

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:16-18, NIV, emphasis mine)

Let’s go into this weekend filled with thanksgiving for all that God has done, is doing and will continue to do in, through, and for us.

Midweek Absurdities

Nelson Mandela is a Terrorist

So apparently, Nobel Peace Prize winning Nelson Mandela is on the terrorist watch list for the United States, which means he needs special permission to come into our country.

NELSON MANDELA???!!!

The Government has vowed to correct this–good for them–but my question is:  How did he get on that list in the first place?  I mean I think it’s absurd when I see old ladies being frisked at airports for fear that they might be carrying a bomb in their sewing bag with cleverly hidden detonation devices in their canes, but when we start putting people like Mandela on terrorist watch lists we are starting to look ridiculous.

I bet that means there is a tap on Bono’s phone, and I suppose if Ghandi were still alive we would have him detained in Cuba.

DUH!

There is a big article on the front page of today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution:  CARS DEGRADE AIR QUALITY.

Wow!  That’s a major news flash.  That took some brilliant investigative reporting to figure that one out I’ll bet.

According to the article, Atlanta smog is getting worse because there are too many cars on the road.  You mean it’s not pigeon flatulance and cigarette smoke causing that nasty haze you see over the city most mornings?  I suppose next they’ll be telling me that the economy is struggling or something else equally as obvious.

Another Reason Why We Homeschool

Clayton County Schools here in Georgia are on the verge of losing their accredidation.  That’s how bad they are.  This means that thousands of graduates will find it difficult if not impossible to get into college.  They have been told their entire lives to do well in school so that they can get into college only to become seniors and find out that their own school system wasn’t following its own advice so now they can’t get into college!

Now, I don’t live in Clayton County, but I think this is just an example of the general state of the public school system in this state and in this country.  Things are bad out there, and they are only getting worse.

The school board for Clayton County has taken action though.  In order to help with this problem, Clayton County hired a new superitendent and offered him a 14 month contract for $300,000, which gives him 140 days off.  No, that’s not a typo–140 DAYS OFF–of a 14 month contract.

How can I sign up for that job?

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the sublimely absurd.

The Blank Bible Project Begins

Awhile back, I wrote about something called The Blank Bible.  It is simply a method of chopping up a Bible and inserting blank pages in between pages of text.  Then you rebind the bible and use it as a source for your study notes.  You can read about this project and get some good links on how to make your own here.

Last night Dream Girl went out with Superwoman (her best friend) to the movies so the boyos and I had the evening to ourselves.  We went our to our favorite barista for coffee (decaf for the younger ones) and then we ended up at our local Bible bookstore.  I picked up a copy of Chris Tomlin’s new album, The Noise We Make, which is excellent by the way, and I also grabbed a simple NIV pew Bible for $12 and change in order to create my own Blank Bible.

Some people like to use official study Bibles with notes and helps, etc. but I prefer my Bible to be sans notes.  I like to discover that stuff all on my own using references I have been collecting for years in my library–but that’s me–to each his own.

When I got the Bible home, I realized I would need two in order to complete this project.  The books flow into one another and since you cannot create a Blank Bible in one volume (it would be HUGE) you have to divide it into books or several books per volume.  I will go back and get another one this weekend.

I have decided that mine will eventually take the form of 30 smaller volumes, which will be coil or spiral bound.  I am very excited about this.

I will keep you posted on the progress of this project and if I can ever figure out how to do  it, I will post some pictures as well.