Category: faith

Update on Laurie

Well Laurie went and saw the neurologist this morning. I probably should have gone with her – I couldn’t focus on work after her initial txt message ;-).
The neurologist said she did fracture her t-spine in 4 places from her fall last week.
When she passed out last Tuesday morning she basically took a nose dive off the examination table and landed on the top of her head.
She then continued her roll and strained her neck and shoulder muscles.
The resulting compression from the fall is what likely fractured her t-spine.
She’s still in a good deal of pain but the neurologist said that because it is her spine and not her neck her rib cage works as a natural protection so no C-Collar is necessary and she can return to work tomorrow – but must avoid any heavy lifting.
The doctor expects her to heal naturally on her own and X-Rays from this morning seem to show that has already started.
Please continue to pray for her healing – specifically a continued reduction in her pain.
The mornings seem to be the worse and if she returns to work tomorrow she won’t be able to take any pain meds early in the morning to help reduce the pain.
Thanks again for all your prayers, txt messages, emails and such – and a special thanks to those of you who helped out by providing several meals for us!
We do have some great friends and family!

Related ::
Info on the T-spine
Vertigo :: Laurie’s recap of the fall
SSL :: Meeting the girl of my dreams
SSL :: Red Oak water supply and other updates

Newt Gingrich on InTouch

UPDATE: With Gingrich rising in the polls for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, this post is getting a LOT of hits now. I apologize for the broken link. It appears that InTouch has removed the video mentioned. I’ll try and update the links if I can track it down elsewhere. On the same topic you may be interested in how the 2012 GOP candidates view America going to war in light of the Just War Theory.

A friend in Austin sent me a link to video of Newt Gingrich on InTouch with Dr. Charles Stanley.

Still trying to watch/listen to the video. It’s taking forever to buffer. Update: Lowered the quality and it works a lot better now.

Gingrich talks about the “just war theology” based on St Augustine, Gideon and David in the video.

From the website:

Dr. Stanley and In Touch Ministries are happy to introduce a special guest speaker for our July 4th program. History professor, author and public speaker, Newt Gingrich shares insights into the spiritual climate during the time of our nation’s birth. He explains that, in our country’s history, the author of freedom was not the state or the founding fathers, but God. You don’t want to miss this exciting and informative message! If you would like more information, please check out his book, “Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History.”

Related ::
InTouch Ministries
Wikipedia :: Newt Gingrich
Wikipedia :: Charles Stanley

Quote/idea/challenge for the day

“We tend… whenever we’re in an argument… I will argue the strongest part of my argument and I will direct it against the weakest part of your argument. You will in turn take the strongest part of your argument and attack the weakest part of my argument. And what I really want to do is to enter into dialogs where I can talk about the weakest part of my argument and you can talk about the weakest part of your argument and I can accept and celebrate the strongest part of yours and vice-versa.”

Dr. Peter Rollins
Interviewed on The Nick and Josh Podcast

Make some noise for NoiseTrade.com

Just_Pete – your “indie music sweetheart (TM)” (yes I do believe that is his full name :-)) tipped me off to NoiseTrade.com today via Twitter.

The site appears to be a project of Derek Webb and allows users to download albums for free – by sharing emails with 3 friends – or by paying for the albums at whatever price you deem fit. I love it! I’ve always said/thought that “Christian music” should be open source – in fact I’m a pretty strong believer that everything “Christian” should be open source/creative commons – but that’s for another time and another discussion.

Either way – check it out!

From the site:

Some artists have good music they’re willing to give away in exchange for a little help. Some fans have a few bucks or a few friends who’d love to hear about good, free music.
Sounds like a match made in heaven.

Related ::
Just_Pete’s Twitter feed
Just Pete’s great podcast – The Bored Again Christian
NoiseTrade.com
SSL :: Christian is a poor adjective

Generating ideas :: where do ideas come from

photo by desiitaly

The latest podcast from Mars Hill is a discussion on Creative Theology. Jeanette Banashak and Don Perini discuss… including many of the places creative people generate their ideas. Don says the list comes from an ever changing list by Charles Thompson.

Don suggests that creative people try to utilize these times every chance they can. Look over the list and make note of the places where ideas come for you.

  • Taking a bath or shower
  • Driving
  • Sitting on the toilet
  • Falling asleep or waking up
  • During a boring meeting
  • Reading
  • Exercising
  • Waking up in the middle of the night
  • Listening to a church sermon
  • Manual labor

Ideas are gold

Once you realize where many of your creative ideas come from, come up with a capturing machine. Create a system for capturing your ideas wherever you are. If you know where your ideas come from, always be prepared to write your ideas down in those situations. Whether that’s soap chalk for writing in the shower, or a 3×5 card for writing down ideas while driving (please pull over first :-)) be sure and capture your thoughts.

Some other great ideas are in the podcast, such as activities to help improve creativity.

Where do you tend to come up with great ideas?

Related ::
Mars Hill
Mars Hill podcast feed
Creative Theology podcast
Creative Theology notes/slides

JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakforMe.com

MondayMorningInsight reports that President Bush’s pastor is supporting Barack Obama this year and has started a new website :: JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakforMe.com.

From the website:

James Dobson doesn’t speak for me.

He doesn’t speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide;

He doesn’t speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible;

James Dobson doesn’t speak for me when he uses the beliefs of others as a line of attack;

He doesn’t speak for me when he denigrates his neighbor’s views when they don’t line up with his;

He doesn’t speak for me when he seeks to confine the values of my faith to two or three issues alone;

Continue reading JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakforMe.com