@existentialpunk on the @sbpodcast

Back in January I shared an interview/chat I had with Adele Sackler (@existentialpunk) via Twitter. Well Thomas (@headphonaught) has one-upp’d me with a great chat he recorded for our podcast (@sbpodcast).

It was a great chat and we broke it up into two parts for your listening pleasure.

from the podcast:

this week we share the first part of Thomas’ conversation with Adele Sakler (aka existential punk). Adele grew up in a typical Protestant Christian family but in high school and college began to struggle with the issues between her faith and her attraction to other women. she’s now come to peace with the fact that she’s gay and a follower of The Way and she’s become a bold voice about her faith, her homosexuality as well as her Chronic Lyme Disease.

we realize that like many of our guests, you may not agree with Adele’s theology — she realizes that as well — but we invite you to take the time to listen to Adele’s story and hear her story for yourself. take the time to hear her story and view it and her as an entire package, not just shunning her for what you may not agree with. then we welcome your thoughts and comments. drop us an e-mail or phone call and let us know what you think.

So get on over to the something beautiful podcast, pour yourself a cup of coffee or Scottish Whiskey and listen in with your friends and family. It’s well worth it – imho.

Part 1
Part 2

Tuesday Briefs

tuesdaybriefs

highlight(s) of the week ::
We completed the Tour of Dallas Saturday, riding 20 miles in roughly an hour and a half.

Laurie impressed me throughout the race. She smoked me everytime we went down hill and was often several lengths ahead of me as she weaved in and out of the other riders.

Also, turns out she had a busted gear shift so her gear was stuck in a high gear the whole race. So every time we were heading down hill she went to town while I struggled to find a gear that kept me from simply spinning my pedals.

bike

We’re considering another ride in Lancaster on Saturday – but I think we’ll hold off till we see what the weather does.

quote i’m digging ::
“Jesus wasn’t a king who ruled with an iron fist but ruled with a towel – washing people’s feet.” Shane Claiborne

work update ::
Still waiting to hear back on my job interviews. Expected to hear something on Friday or Monday but nothing as of 5 pm today. We’ll just keep waiting.

cars cars and trucks::
Had to take my truck to the shop yesterday. Knew I’d need a new fan clutch which was covered under warranty ($100 deductable) but found out in the process that my left front wheel hub bearing was going out as well. They replaced it as well and while the ticket was well over $900 – I still only paid $100 – making the warranty investment worth what we paid on it.

Unfortunately I’m typing this blog post on my BlackBerry while we wait at Firestone to get a new belt for Laurie’s car. It’ll cost $50 more than what we paid for the work on my truck! Doh!

looking forward to ::
Getting Friday off. Wasn’t expecting it at all but found out yesterday that we get Good Friday off. Should be a nice day to do whatever I feel like.

There’s a war going on for your mind

Love Flobots and love this style of video…

d9studios, who’s majoring in motion design, did this for an ethics class.

There’s a war going on for your mind – if you’re thinking – you’re winning.

HT to Colleen for the video.

I’m on a Powertalk Radio…

Rick Walker invited me to join him for Open Line on Powertalk again last night. Always a great time.

Last night was open-line along with discussion about teen dating and abstinence.

I’ve posted the audio over on my drop.io account if you want to download or listen to the show (or you can just download the show from the Power FM site as well).

See if you can hear us squirm in our chairs about mid-way through the show :-).

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Crazy Love

crazylove

I got a copy of a great DVD last week in the mail — Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love.” The DVD is a companion to the book of the same title and is put together as a great resource for small group discussion.

I watched four or five chapters right off the bat and loved the simplicity as well as the quality of the videos. I instantly thought it would be a great resource for our small group in the coming months and I’ve asked all the other community groups at encounter to consider doing the same.

The DVD is broken into 10 chapters, to correlate with the book. In each “chapter” of the DVD, Chan talks about various topics related to the same chapters in the book. The videos then wrap up with several questions for the group to discuss.

Publisher’s Weekly writes about the book:

Chan, senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, Calif., offers a radical call for evangelicals to consider and emulate in this debut guide to living crazy for God. Chan’s own life compels him to live with urgency, and with good reason. His mother died giving birth to him, his stepmother died when he was nine, and his dad when he was 12. As a pastor, Chan says that conducting weekly funerals for people younger than himself has likewise sobered him to life’s unexpectedness and frailty. Chan writes with infectious exuberance, challenging Christians to take the Bible seriously. He describes at length the sorry state of lukewarm Christians who strive for a life characterized by control, safety and an absence of suffering. In stark contrast, the book offers real-life accounts of believers who have given all—time, money, health, even their lives—in obedience to Christ’s call.Chan also recounts his own attempts to live crazy by significantly downsizing his home and giving away his resources to the poor.Earnest Christians will find valuable take-home lessons from Chan’s excellent book.

Just the first few “chapters” on the DVD alone had me re-thinking my relationship with God and how lacking it can be. Chan makes the point early on that he realized as a teenager that his prayers really seemed to be lacking – he never really “prayed to anyone.” His prayers were more about rattling off a list of requests than actually talking with someone.

He shared that as he began to read about the God of Scripture (in places like Revelations 4) and saw the mighty power and majesty of God, he began picturing coming before this mighty God each time before he prayed — it suddenly changed his heart, his mind and his thoughts. Suddenly he was no longer just praying out into space, but he was talking to his creator and God.

I’m looking forward to going through this book/DVD with our group and seeing and hearing what they take from it as well. If you’re in the DFW area and want to come join our discussion – let me know! We meet every Saturday at 6 p.m. in Red Oak.

And to get your own copy of the book, Amazon has a copy of the book in paperback, or you can buy the Crazy Love CD/Audio version, Crazy Love Kindle version or Audible.com has the Mp3 version for your portable player.

Or for more information about the book and DVD visit http://crazylovebook.com/ or read other reviews at http://viralbloggers.com/2009/01/crazy-love-interactive-dvd/

Livestrong.com

Found Livestrong.com today thanks to the brand new BlackBerry App Store.

Very cool!

The site has lots of great hints/pointers for living healthier and tracks your food/caloric intake throughout the day as well as what you burn with exercising. I was surprised at just how many nutritional facts could be found for various foods on the site. Things like Costco’s brand foods, a random can of green beans, various food from restaurants etc., etc. In addition to the basic tracking, the site itself has loads of free tools and offers additional tools with a paid subscription.

Add to that the BlackBerry or (iPhone) app and you’ve got one amazingly powerful tool.

Speaking of, here’s a chart of my day one intake…

livestrong

That yellow slice of the pie, 45% of my caloric intake for the day, is literally a slice of pie! One slice of pizza pie that is – 776 calories!

Good thing I avoided the Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit from Whataburger this morning. Saw that it was 663 calories before I left home this morning. Add 200 calories from the hash browns that come in a combo meal and you’ve got half your day’s recommended calories. I opted for the Bacon and Egg Taquito (387 calories) instead.

But looking at what you’re eating in a visual manner like this is sure to be handy.

What have you found to help you?