Random

• 46% of the world's population lives in "free" countries, while 36% lives in "not free" countries. The rest are "partly free." ~ link

• McDonald's has reinvented itself and is quickly regaining lost ground. Happier customers -- healthier customers -- hotter profits. ~ link

• "Guam remains unscathed by the rash of home foreclosures facing the rest of the country, owing to its relative removal from many of the factors that spurred the current housing crisis." ~ link

• Aroma de Guam -- Guamanians tend to burn a lot of garbage on Saturdays -- as illegal as it is.

• We went snorkeling at Ypao today -- beautiful fish -- gorgeous emerald water -- but the current was so strong that when we were swimming back to shore it felt as though we were swimming-in-place. It wasn't dangerous -- just a lot more work.

• OfficeMax is doing an extreme make-over to better appeal to women -- who tend to be the ones buying the paper clips. ~ link

• The Midsouth Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church has moved its offices from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Rogers, Arkansas. This is probably the first time that an ECC conference office has moved into a state without a Covenant church. ~ link

• Educational: S. Michael Craven's article -- "What is the Missional Church and Why Does it Matter?" ~ link

• NY Times story about the the Miracle on the Hudson River by Michael Wilson and Russ Buettner -- "After the Splash, Heroics and Comedy" -- This is why we need to save the newspapers -- or at least the professional journalists -- wonderfully told story ~ link

• Gordon MacDonald's sermon fodder from the Miracle on the Hudson River -- way to tell the story and allow the audience to draw the conclusions. ~ link