Random

✽ China adds 5 million new mobile phones a month. ~ WSJ

✽ A family in Mesa has converted their swimming pool into a garden/fish farm/chicken coop.  ~ ABC

✽ Capt Dale Goetz of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado., was among five soldiers killed by an improvised bomb in Afghanistan on Monday. He is the first Army chaplain to be "killed in action" since the Vietnam War. ~ ABC

✽ "A federal appeals court in San Francisco has tossed out the conviction of an Arizona man who left water jugs in the desert for migrants passing through." ~ AZ Central

✽ The US Department of Justice has filed suit against Sheriff Joe, again. In spite of the letter sent by the sheriff's office last week to the DOJ saying "it would not cooperate in full with the investigation," the sheriff says, that he is surprised. "We thought we were getting along fine." ~ link

✽ In a separate matter, "Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is appealing a ruling that his political fliers attacking attorney general candidate Rick Romley were a violation of election laws." He does provide a lot of work for poor starving attorneys. ~ EV Trib

✽ Mike Sunnucks:

The Obama administration has something in common with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona’s conservative immigration hawks despite their ocean of ideology differences.


Both the Obama folks in Washington and Arizona conservatives such as Arpaio and former County Attorney Andrew Thomas like to take credit for the drop in illegal immigrants coming into the state or country from Mexico. The reality is the sour economy, especially in Arizona and Nevada, is a major driver for fewer undocumented immigrants coming into and staying in the Southwest. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

✽ Gmail just dumped some spam into my new "Priority Inbox." I think it will require a little training.

✽ Jerry Falwell and Glenn Beck have uncorked Sue Gillespie. She is quite insightful. ~ link

✽ In the never ending fight against Brown Tree snakes on Guam, 200 acetaminophen-laced dead mice have been dropped onto the jungle canopy from a helicopter. The snakes die when they ingest even small doses of the acetaminophen (ingredient in Tylenol) ~ Stars and Stripes

✽ Stephen Hawking now says that there is not room for a creator. Is he really saying anything new? ~ The World

Random

✽ This is our new Facebook ad which seems to be getting a lot of attention.

✽ David Housholder -- "The Lutherans Sterben Aus (Die Out)" -- why it's happening. ~ link

✽ Unique ministry with internationals through Cornerstone Church in Boston. ~ link

✽ A childhood friend, Roy Goble, is recruiting a program director for the PathLight ministry he developed and oversees in Belize. They work with at risk children. ~ link

✽Our property tax bill came in the mail today. It's 20% lower this year than last year. That's good for us but not so good for the State.

✽ Lottery ticket sales are up 14% in Arizona. It's a grassroots economic stimulation plan. I'm not suggesting that it is a good plan. It's taxation with a slight adrenal rush. The fact is that the people end up paying one way or another. ~ AZCentral

✽ Twitter scooped everyone on the Discovery Channel gunman story. I'm not saying that it was good reporting but that it was global before the professional news reporters figured out that something was happening. ~ Washington Post

✽ "Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was at a serious loss for words during a Wednesday debate against Attorney General Terry Goddard and other candidates for governor." Just nerves? Sometimes I wonder. I've seen her speak before and I really don't think that she is hitting on all cylinders. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

✽ 40% of Americans over age 55 are working or looking for work, the highest rate since the Kennedy administration ~ WSJ

✽ Typhoon Kompasu struck central South Korea early this morning (Thursday). Hopefully things clear up by the time Kent arrives. He is in the air now on the way to South Korea. Kent has a layover at Incheon (Seoul) en route to Yanbian, China.

✽ A city councilman on a police ride-along saved a woman's life with compression-only CPR, syncing to the beat of the Bee Gee's song Stayin' Alive!!! ~ EV Trib

Can I get a witness, here?

Efrem Smith helps take on Glenn Beck and friends. ~  link

I want to know why all of our seminary-trained biblical scholars with their finely-tuned crap detectors aren't challenging Jerry Falwell's goofy eisegesis of the "parable of the talents." Folks, this is what we trained for -- to engage the forms of heresy and lunacy that threaten the safety of the flock!

The parable (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27) doesn't really have anything to do with money or developing capital. It is an analog about faithfulness -- individual and corporate -- and judgment aimed at those who squander that which has been entrusted to them.

N.T. Wright suggests that the parable is picking at the Jewish religious establishment rather than individuals. It is about their corporate failure to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah and his kingdom. Because of the way that they had oppressed the people under their care they were thus under divine judgment. However you read it, the parable cannot be faithfully read as a rant against corporate or communal responsibility. That just doesn't work!

Back to Asia

Cheryl & Kent at the
Diamondbacks game last night

Kent, our #2 son, who has been visiting with us for about two weeks, heads back to Asia tonight.

Kent's next English teaching gig is at the new Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) which is opening its doors in North Korea this fall.

However, the first stop is Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in the Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture in China (Korean speaking region). YUST is the sister institution to PUST -- the model upon which the new school in North Korea is being established. The PUST faculty will have about three weeks of orientation at YUST before moving over to North Korea.

PUST is being started by evangelical Christians from South Korea and the US and will have an international faculty. It is not a "Christian college" -- even though many of the movers and shakers are Christians. The idea is to love on North Korea without a religious agenda and to equip North Koreans for the future. It's the old "teach a man to fish" adage.

Given the amount of negative press that North Korea seems to stir up for itself, we're all amazed that they're allowing (and even encouraging) the emergence of this new university. It's such a hopeful sign for the people of North Korea. It's also an indicator of just how creative and venturesome things can get when you have a bunch of Asian Christians leading the charge. They know how to get things done in that part of the world.

The North Koreans formally approached the leadership of YUST to ask them about the possibility of establishing a school in their country. So they are invested in the idea and need to be given credit for their willingness to seek help from outside.

There is a Wikipedia article about PUST. Also, Dr David Kim, the vice president of the new university, gave a "TechTalk" for Google employees that has been posted online. The school's website is pust.kr. This is all very exciting -- but also very venturesome.

Obviously, this is a sensitive area of the world and we would appreciate your prayers for Kent and all those who will be going there. The leadership of the school is fully aware of the high risk nature of this project. But they are confident of their calling.

After Kent graduated from UC Irvine, where he studied political science, he joined us on Guam and taught English as a second language through PIU, as a volunteer. He then got a contract with the public schools in rural South Korea to teach elementary school students. From there he went to teach English at Chinju National University of Education in Jinju, South Korea. So, he has some experience in that part of the world.

Random

✽ Albino redwood trees ~ via


✽ Plight of the Roma ~ Spiegel

✽ The CHE asked scholars and illustrators to answer this question: What will be the defining idea of the coming decade, and why? The 23 responses suggest that there is nothing near a consensus on that question. ~ link

✽ What can we learn from the Mormons about passing on the faith? ~ link

✽ Chill! It's not red, white, and blue but the new earth tones in the Oval Office look great. The furniture even looks inviting and hospitable. The only way to really improve it all would be to paint the walls tropical orange, lime green, and mango yellow. And I just don't think that's going to happen -- even in this less than conservative administration.. ~ link

✽ McDonald's new drink line-up of cold frappes and fruit smoothies has been so successful that they're hiring in Arizona -- maybe adding 1,000 new jobs. ~ link

My solution to the border problem

Ask Mexico if they'd like to sell off Baja and Sonora. Arizona might get a coast out of the deal. Those living in the Mexican border states with a history of migration back and forth across the border would have free access into the US states. Mexico would get an infusion of cash. And the US would get control of the zone.

Okay, I realize that it might not be an easy sell. And perhaps it's not exactly what needs to happen. But we do need some out of the box thinking to deal with these issues in a humane and fair way.

Random

✽ Russell Moore on the confusion in American evangelicalism --

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah... 

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish. 

And there will be a new generation, in America and elsewhere, who will be ready for a gospel that is more than just Fox News at prayer. ~ link

✽ Jordon Cooper's powerful post "Losing My Religion" is worth a read. ~ link

✽ Sign of the times -- spotted on a clothing label at Walmart -- Hecho en India

✽ I want to continue plugging my new Sweeplee.com blog -- a kind of clearinghouse for online promotions and games that are fun to play. There are thousands of online drawings and sweepstakes but only a few of them have anything to them beyond filling out a form. These promotions exhibit creativity above and beyond. There is some fun involved beyond winning stuff.

✽ The Facebook advertising people tell us that there are 1.4 million adults living within 10 miles of Laveen. It's not exactly rural here anymore. Still it doesn't feel THAT crowded.

✽ The lingering memory of Japanese colonization and oppression of Korea -- 100 years later. ~ Global Post

✽ If we really want to change North Korea we'll need to come up with some radical acts of kindness that don't jeopardize face. ~ The latest floundering reported by the BBC

✽ Perhaps something like this? ~ BBC

✽ I'm liking being able to make free phone calls right out of Google Chat.

✽ I'm thinking that I'm going to be liking Gmail's new Priority Inbox ~ Lifehacker

✽ I received a freebie copy of the Common English Bible New Testament in the mail today. When I first heard about it I thought that it was going to be in "common English" -- that is, in the simple English that is commonly spoken throughout the world -- transcending American and British idioms -- and default lingua for English as Second Language speakers. However, that's not what it is. It is, though, a fine and readable dynamic equivalence translation. The CEB is sponsored by several of the American mainline denominations and the translators represent several traditions.

✽ Dear John Huppenthal: I know that you have to contact a lot of people in a short period of time if you're going to get elected. But I think that you should know that I do not vote for anyone who uses a phone machine to call my cell phone. It's nothing personal. I just think that candidates who use phone machines lack the common sense necessary to hold elected office.

✽ And the award for the best headline of 2010 will probably go to Fast Company -- "The Road to HAL Is Paved With Good Intentions: The Future of Google?" ~ link

✽ The worst place on earth to be a woman? -- DRC, says Lynne Hybels ~ link

✽ The extreme edge of electronic culture -- Japanese resort atttracts men with virtual girlfriends. ~ link

✽ Southern Baptist voice:

I don't want to come back here 15 years from now and apologize to Hispanics. It's a kingdom issue. 

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, on his support for giving illegal immigrants "a compassionate, just pathway to earning citizenship or legal status. ~ AJC (via)

Every muscle in my body aches...

Just watching this does me in.

Random

✽ By 2030 the population of the Philippines will equal that of Russia -- assuming they can hold things together that long. ~ link

✽ Cheryl and I spent a couple of days in Flagstaff -- just chillin' and wearing sweatshirts. I noticed that higher taxes must come with the higher elevation. My 79¢ soft drink at Circle K ends up costing 86¢ with tax in Phoenix. In Flagstaff it costs 88¢.

✽ The guy we sat next to this morning in worship in Flagstaff says that he comes late to worship every week -- mossing in as the band is winding down. He's been a part of the church for six years and found Christ there. But he can't handle the music. (I assume it's too loud for him.) I admire his tenacity.

✽ Chicago's famous ShoreBank has closed. It started in 1973 "to prove that money could be lent profitably to poor people in poor neighborhoods." Unfortunately, it has not been able to weather the latest economic storm.

Some of the biggest names in mainstream finance rallied round to try to save it, including Citigroup, JPMorganChase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. These banks are now part of a consortium that is investing in the ShoreBank operations taken over by the FDIC, which have been renamed the Urban Partnership Bank. ~ Economist

These guys deserve credit for carrying out the experiment -- and kudos to the big names for backing them. A lot has been learned and the vision continues.

✽ "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." ~ Mark Twain

Random

✽ This should rattle a few cages. Libertarian thinking is incompatible with Christianity, suggests Gary Moore in CT ~ CT

✽ On a related note, it looks like the only real solution to the financial crisis is if somehow people get a change of heart. ~ NPR

✽ Donald Bloesch, the theologian to whom I have continually turned for advice and clear explanation, died this week. Praise God for his life, ministry, and faithfulness. ~ CT

✽ A new study "suggests drivers think helmeted cyclists are more sensible, predicable and experienced, so therefore the driver doesn't need to give them much space when overtaking. Non-helmeted cyclists, especially non helmeted 'women' are less predictable and experienced..." Whatever. I'm not planning to abandon my brain-bucket anytime soon. ~ BBC

✽ Shell Oil is investing $2 billion in sugar cane bio fuels. ~ Fast Company

✽ Here is some more info on the growth of algea-based fuels, further establishing Arizona as the algae fuel-research hub. Algae energy has been under research at ASU for 30 years.

(ASU Senior Vice President Rick) Shangraw said that, unlike with ethanol, growing and harvesting algae results in an energy gain "because you get more energy out at the end of the process than you put in." In addition, the byproducts from algae can be turned into fertilizer or feedstock for animals. ~ AZ Central