My brother-in-law sent me this via e-mail. See if you can figure it out.
This is not a trick question. This is a real math problem so don’t say that a bus has no legs.
There are 7 girls in a bus
Each girl has 7 backpacks
In each backpack, there are 7 big cats
For every big cat there are 7 little cats
Question: How many legs are there in the bus?
Presidential candidate Barack Obama recently spoke to Beliefnet about his (Christian) faith:
The Democratic presidential candidate discusses what he prays for daily and why the Golden Rule applies on the campaign trail.
You spoke at Martin Luther King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church this week and speak regularly at other churches. Is there a difference in speaking from a pulpit versus from behind a podium or at a political rally? Do you have a different set of responsibilities?
When I’m speaking behind a pulpit, I’m in church. And what that means is that it’s during a religious service. I’m there, mindful that the primary reason for being in church is to worship. And so I’m going to constrain myself in speaking on purely political issues and am more likely to broaden the theme to address broader issues—values and our ideals, how we can come together to solve the problems that we face as a nation and in the world. But I’m very sensitive to respecting the role that the church service plays and not wanting to abuse the privilege of addressing a congregation.
In writing about your experience encountering church people as an organizer in Chicago, you said you saw “their ability to make a way out of no way, I could see the Word made manifest… I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized.†It sounds like a conversion or a born-again experience.
It wasn’t an epiphany. I didn’t “fall out,†as they say in the black church. It was an emotional and spiritual progression, as well as an intellectual one. And it didn’t happen overnight. What happened was that I felt drawn to the message of Jesus Christ and the power of the church to fortify people in their spiritual journeys. And, you know, in my heart, at least, I felt God’s spirit beckoning me. So ultimately, as I write in [“The Audacity of Hopeâ€], I submitted myself to his will, dedicated myself to discovering his truths.
But it’s an ongoing process for all of us in making sure that we are living out our faith every day. And, you know, it’s something that I try to pray on at the beginning of every day and at the end of every day, whether I’m living my life in a way that’s consistent with my faith.
Scott tipped me off to Next-Wave Ezine, where I found a recent interview with “Everything Must Change” author Brian McLaren.
Here’s a preview:
Question: At the beginning of the book ( p.3) you write: “And not only am I often unsatisfied with conventional answers, but even worse, I’ve consistently been unsatisfied with conventional questions.†One interpretation of this remark might be, “conventional questions produce conventional answers.†Is it your position that a large proportion of professed Christians have succumbed to a convenient living out of their faith that is askew with the teachings and life of Christ?
McLaren: Well, I think many people are doing their best to live out their faith in sync with the teachings and life of Christ, but it’s not easy to figure out what that means, especially in changing times. Some things are easy – like knowing you shouldn’t hate or commit adultery or kill. But pretty quickly, it gets complex – like knowing whether pre-emptive and hastily-launched wars fit under killing, for example. And that gets to what I mean about conventional questions. We have lots of religious arguments about the origin of the species, but far fewer dialogues about the extinction of species and what we can do to save species that we all agree are precious parts of God’s creation. We have lots of religious arguments about homosexuality, but far fewer conversations about the growing gap between rich and poor and what we can do about it. We argue about what to do about abortion, but we seem much less concerned about what to do about racial disharmony and political polarization and how we can be peacemakers and reconcilers. I’m not saying the common arguments are unimportant, only that less common questions deserve a lot more attention. I hope my book will help in that regard.
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remember the days of analog cameras? you’d fill a full roll of film, never quite knowing how it would turn out – until you developed the film. sometimes you’d be thrilled, sometimes sadly disappointed.
but what if you could return to those anxious days without the cost of film developing? that’s the idea behind the Eazzzy! cam design. no lcd screen, no viewfinder, but also no waiting for film to develop. just plug it into your usb port and go.
another option that i’ve had fun with is basically the same idea – just continuing to use a digital camera with a broken lcd screen.
we’ve set it out at a few parties and gotten funny looks but the pictures are some of the more random fun photos of the night.
you could do the same thing i spose by taping over the screen and viewfinder as well.
my friend John shared his comments via e-mail on the recent Hanging out with Jesus post. He took issue with some of Kevin Hendricks comments:
“He’s not doing anything productive, he’s just hanging out.”
Jesus was intentional in the things he did. He had a purpose.
“Not doing anything productive?” I don’t think so.
Purposeless? I think not.
“Producing” disciples involves intentionality and an investment of time in their lives.
John