Month: June 2006

Michael did what I normally do to any forward I get, and actually Snooped the Bill Gates story.
Guess I should have thought about that ;-).
I still think it’s good advice, but the original was not attributed to Bill Gates.

No, this list didn’t originate with Microsoft head Bill Gates. (It’s frequently cited on the Internet as having come from his book Business @ The Speed of Thought, but it didn’t.) Why it’s attributed to Gates is a mystery to us; it doesn’t really sound the least bit like something he would write. Possibly, the item the Internet-circulated version of the list generally ends with (“Be nice to nerds”) struck a chord with someone who views Gates as the ultimate successful nerd of all time……
This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, Or Add. (The list has appeared in newspapers, although not necessarily in this book.) Many versions omit the last three rules:

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you’re out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That’s what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for “expressing yourself” with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.
Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.
Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome.

Cobalt Tree
Originally uploaded by Jdblundell.

Who knew blue colbalt bottles grew on trees.
This was built and installed at a home in Waxahachie and seen as part of the 2006 Gingerbread Home Tour.

From theemerge blog:

I have a very close friend whose dad is on a ventilator and diagnosed with lew gehrig’s disease. Unfortunately, his dad has been confined to his bed and couch and only gets up to use the bathroom. Only once, since he has been home from the hospital (in late Feb. I believe) has he been outside of his house. His wife is with him almost ever hour of the day, she has become a virtuous woman if I’ve ever knew one. They are believers and love Jesus very much.
Now the question, how are these folks exposed to participate in a church service as we know it today? Some might say, “Well, the wife should go to the church and hear what the Revered had to say and then go home and share it with the husband.” Or others may advise the wife and say, “Even though your husband has been incapable of going you should at least participate in church service, that’s the least you could do.” And of course some would say, “You need not to forsake the assembling of the brethren.”
How amazing it is to me, that so many are stuck in tradition of “going to church”. The theme in Scripture is not go to church, but rather, be the church.
Is it not true, does the spirit of God dwell in you? Is it true that where the spirit of God is, there is liberty? Doesn’t Christ say, “where two or more are gathered in my name, “That is Church” or I am in their midst, whatever way you prefer.

(Hint click the link above to read the rest.)

Found this site today, check it out: theemerge.com. Looks like a lot of interesting conversations on the church and the future of the church.

It started as a vision during a worship conference in San Diego, Ca. in 2003. A vision to provide an alternative service to this wondering generation. For the first two years God put it on hold while He was molding and making the foundation on which theemerge.com would be founded.
“The Emerge” was first visioned to be a alternative worship service for young adults and teens, something to substitute the usual Sunday Morning stuff. Many churches were doing it at the time and still many do it today. “The Emerge Service” first launch was a well planned, well thought out disaster. Hours upon hours of planning and prayer were given to it. We even had shirts made for the staff that were a bit tight. But “The Emerge Service” died before it even started. It wasn’t that it sucked, it actually rocked, but God called it quits right after it’s launch. Why the chaos, we still don’t know. But because of the events that followed those pioneer days theemerge.com would finally come to it’s given nature.
With drastic events during it’s conception theemerge.com was birthed as a launching pad for a conversation in faith; what it was always meant to be. Something simple, yet profound. A place where you can go to share what you really feel, think, believe. A place that’s as real as you want it to be.
God is evolving this place daily into whatever He desires. Only He knows where it’s been and where it may go.