Category: Uncategorized

Laurie and I finally watched, “Walk the Line” Saturday night.
I’ve been dying to watch it for a while, but my DVD purchases have been limited lately and I never rent DVDs anymore.
Needless to say, I thought it was great. Go watch it if you haven’t.
Since Saturday I’ve been listening to a lot of Cash’s music. Especially his American V and IV CD’s.
He recorded both of the CD’s just months before he passed away, along with “My Mother’s Hymnal” another great album.
The music is very raw and honest on both American IV and V. Cash really brings new life into the songs he recorded. Knowing his history and life they really bring out the meaning behind the songs previously recorded by other arists.

Brian Bailey has a link to a great podcast with former Microsoft employee and world renown blogger, Robert Scoble.

Scoble was recently interviewed by one of his new Podtech co-workers. If you’ve ever wanted to hear a quick and clear case for blogging, this is it. Scoble presents an engaging, enthusiastic, truly heartfelt argument for corporations and organizations to embrace blogging and join the conversation happening all around them.
“If I don’t find you, you don’t exist.”
As he shows, blogging is a powerful tool that allows you to talk to Google (marketing and search results) and to the people who are part of these word-of-mouth networks.
If someone told me I had 15 minutes to convince them of why blogging is worth doing, this is what I would want them to hear.

Listen to the podcast.

From email:

NEW YORK – A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
“Al-gebra is a problem for us,” Ashcroft said. “They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns,’ but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle.’ ”
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better Weapons of Math Instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.” White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the president.

5. The Emergent Dyslexic
4. MM Blog
3. Soaring With Eagles
2. Sojourners Jaunt
1. My dad’s blog: Passage to Higher Ground

Eric emailed me the link to an article in The New Republic a few days ago, but I’m just now getting a chance to read the whole thing.
It’s an open letter to pastors from a scientist:

Still, for all the positive signs, I remain puzzled that so many religious leaders have hesitated to make protection of the Creation an important part of their magisterium. Pastor, help me understand: Do they believe that human-centered ethics and preparation for the afterlife are the only things that matter? Do they believe that the Second Coming is imminent and that, therefore, the condition of the planet is of little consequence? These and other similar doctrines are not gospels of hope and compassion. They are gospels of cruelty and despair.
You and I are both humanists in the broadest sense: Human welfare is at the center of our thought. So forget our disagreements, I say, and let us meet on common ground. That might not be as difficult as it first seems. When you think about it, our metaphysical differences have remarkably little effect on the conduct of our separate lives. My guess is that you and I are about equally ethical, patriotic, and altruistic. We are products of a civilization that rose from both religion and the science-based Enlightenment. We would gladly serve on the same jury, fight the same wars, and sanctify human life with the same intensity. Surely we also share a love of the Creation–and an understanding that, however the tensions play out between our opposing worldviews, however science and religion wax and wane in the minds of men, there remains the earthborn yet transcendental obligation we are both morally bound to share.

Do Christians and evangelicals have an obligation to care for the planet and worry about enviromental concerns? And if so, why have we not in the past? Does it revolve around the “liberal enviromentalist wacko” and “conservative tree killer” labels?
Take a moment to read the article and let me know what you think.

If you haven’t been to the encounter website lately check it out. Many changes are happening.
Along with a total redesign, the site now offers a podcast of the weekly messages and downloadable songs from the encounter band’s first CD – recorded live during encounter services.
Be sure to check it all out and tell your friends.
We’re also finishing up the final details/kinks with an encounter blog that should launch within the next week or so.
Very exciting stuff going on over there. If you’re in our neck of the woods (Waxahachie, Texas) and don’t have a church home, come join us every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Waxahachie Civic Center – on the corner of Highway 287 and I-35.