Random

• Want to see video of our 4-month-old niece? Really cute. ~ link

• George Beverly Shea turns 100 tomorrow! He's the guy known for singing "How Great Thou Art." ~ link

• This is an ad rejected by NBC for the Super Bowl. That's okay, it's probably getting more play on YouTube now anyway -- and without the price tag. ~ link (thx)

Laying tile

We have ceramic tile throughout our condo. A few months ago I noticed that some of the tiles were starting to pop up. So, I've been removing tiles for a few weeks and preparing the floor to insert new ones.

Today was the day. I laid 24 new tiles -- and it only required three trips to Home Depot. That's because I'd never done it before and I kept running out of adhesive. Next time I'll have it more under control.

There is a problem with having learned how to do this, though. Not only am I noticing my own imprecision and tile errors but now my eyes are trained to see it everywhere else I go, too. There has got to be a sermon illustration in there somewhere.

I'm planning to put in the grout sometime on Monday.

Random

• Just a few more days to register your personal Obama approval rating. I'm sure that all the DC insiders are watching, so tell them what you think! See left column.

• Don't miss Horace Glump's new blog. ~ link

• The CNMI wants Gitmo prisoners. They're really hurting up there north of us. ~ link

• I re-read an article from CT (March '08) -- "What Makes a Church Missional?" by J. Todd Billings. It's got a good little history and highlights some of the unique streams of thought -- some of which are kind of out there -- some of which have attempted to hijack the term. ~ link

• Kurt Fredrickson passed his PhD dissertation defense -- which makes him a double Fuller doc. This time he did his work in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary -- some emerging postmodern missional church piffle. Congratulations!

• The January edition of Christianity Today arrived in January. A Guam first.

• Since we're planning to move to Arizona to start a new congregation I'm tuning into the AZ stats and USA Today is reporting that according to a new Gallup Poll only 61% of Arizonans consider themselves to be "religious" in some way shape or form. Arizona is in the bottom half of the US in this regard. ~ link

• On Wednesday I mentioned that spinach might be the answer to citrus greening. Now, Florida researchers have come up with a biopesticide that is effective against the insect that spreads the bacteria. And it will be available this year! Cool. ~ link

• Enjoy!

Random

• Giant ant colony -- great video of an ant colony that "covers 50 square metres and goes eight metres down into the earth. The ants removed 40 tonnes of material to build this enormous colony." ~ link

• "20th Century Fox will pick up the tab to co-finance the third Narnia film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader." ~ link

• Metropolitan Kirill is the Russian Orthodox Church's new patriarch -- probably a step back into the dark ages of Russia. Hopefully I'll be wrong. ~ link

• Starbucks says they'll stop brewing decaf after the noon hour because the demand is low in the afternoons. That seems counter intuitive. I know people who drink caffeinated coffee in the morning but switch to decaf for the afternoon so they aren't awake all night. Maybe I'm missing something about the chemistry. Starbucks will brew afternoon decaf upon request, though. ~ link

• Starbucks is closing 300 stores because sales fell 6% in 4Q '08. This means that from now on there will only be a Starbucks on every other corner. Apparently, people aren't as willing to spend half their paychecks on lattes during a down economy. Of course, Starbucks could drop their prices. ~ link

• The US House of Representatives passed an $819 billion economic stimulus package. I'm still not convinced that you can spend your way out of a recession using money you don't have. That's how we got into this mess. But then again, what do I know? I don't even understand how Twitter is making money. ~ link

• I also don't understand why we can't keep the power on on Guam. I'm working on battery because the power is out for the third time in a week! Island leaders get upset when people suggest that Guam is a third world country. It's not (we're not suffering here). But it certainly has a lot of the same problems as third world countries.

Email back-log

I'm having trouble keeping up with the email load this week. If you're not hearing back from me quickly it's not that I'm ignoring you!

Random

• Spinach may be the salvation of the world-wide citrus industry ~ link

• Steve and Anne Stinnette are back on Guam -- arrived last night! ~ link

• More good news (I hope) -- "GrandCentral Still Alive, New Version Imminent."

GrandCentral is Google's centralized phone system. (But it is currently in closed beta.) For example, I have for several years had a GrandCentral phone number in the Phoenix area code. I can set the system to forward calls to my 602 number to a) voice mail, b) any US phone number, c) a whole bunch of US phone numbers (for example you could have the number ring in your office, home, and cell all at once). And it's a permanent phone number for life (or as long as Google supports the system). ~ link

• New study: marijuana could prevent Alzheimer's. That's certainly counter intuitive. ~ link

• Cross-cultural marketing blunders -- they're easier to make than you might think. ~ link (thx)

• Qantas Airways is closing down its customer service and reservations call center in Tucson, Arizona. I'm guessing that they're moving their operations back to Australia because the American workers couldn't get the accent down and it annoyed customers to think that their phone calls were being outsourced to non-native speakers. ~ link

• Dave Gibbons on changing culture ~ link

• I'd use Gmail offline but I don't think I have enough room on the hard-drive. Besides I'm trying to live in the clouds. ~ link

• "American seminaries and divinity schools across the theological spectrum are in financial trouble, according to news reports, open letters and blogs about budget cuts and staff layoffs." ~ link

• The GenderAnalyzer website says of my blog, "We think http://boydston.us is written by a woman (63%)." I guess you just can't trust everything you read on the internet. ~ link

• Costco is using "robo-calls" to warn customers of recalls related to specific products they've purchased. Finally -- a helpful use of that technology. Brilliant. ~ link

• The Christian Post article on the latest round of financial and personnel chaos at the Crystal Cathedral (staff lay-offs, land sales) appeared next to a flashing ad for churchloans.info in the next column -- "Growing his kingdom together -- looking for a church loan? Contact the experts! No tax returns! No personal guarantees! No audited financials! Apply today!" There has got to be some providential connection. ~ link

• One of our therapeutic faculty members pointed me to this unique and effective approach to therapy. I can't stop watching it.

Transition...

We are planning to transition this summer from ministry at PIBC to church planting in the Phoenix area. There are a lot of details to be worked out but our latest Hafa Adai update is online if you'd like more info. ~ link

Random

• Klyne Snodgrass' great book Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus has won a CT book of the year award in the biblical studies category. ~ link

• The local church movement that follows the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and the evangelicals are getting along better these days. ~ link

• There are options!

Random

• 恭喜发财 Good riddance to the rat! Hello ox! Congratulations and prosperity for this new year!

• A woman in Denmark managed to exchange bills worth two thousand "kronor" in Swedish Monopoly money for real Danish money in Denmark -- I'm sure providing great fodder for the stand-up comedians in Sweden. Swedes enjoy helping the Danes feel inferior. ~ link

• The White House Twitter feed, so active leading up to the inauguration, has been mysteriously silent ever since. Not prone to embrace conspiracy theories, I wonder if they're just worried about someone tweeting top sweetwets. (Sorry -- couldn't resist) ~ link

• There are now 1 billion internet users. The country with the largest number is China with 180 million people online. The US has 163 million users -- Japan 60 million, Germany and Britain nearly 37 million each, France 34 million, India 32 million, Russia 29 million, Brazil 28 million, South Korea 27 million, Canada 22 million, and Italy 21 million. For some reason I thought that Nigeria would be among the top three internet users. Maybe all of those financial offers are really just coming from one guy with a million yahoo accounts. ~ link

• Public Service Announcement

Random

• How the snakes are killing off not just the birds but also the forests (boonies, jungles) on Guam ~ link

• Guampedia continues to improve. They've now added bird calls for the native Guam birds (which are now MIA). The recordings were made in the 1950's before the brown tree snake impact. We rarely hear birds on Guam now but this is what it used to sound like around here. The contrast is incredible. ~ link

• Trial By Fury -- Ted Haggard tells his story ~ link

• Apparently there is more to the story -- and a settlement by the New Life Church. In spite of all they've endured these past few years it sounds like the church is doing well. ~ link

• The Bush White House was loaded down with aging Windows software and the Obama people are used to the latest Macs. They're all walking around in a bewildered daze. ~ link

• Don Johnson responds to the space-less church movement. While it's not the final word on the subject he is definitely on target. ~ link

Random

• The new American president faces incredible challenges. How do you think he is doing in his first week? Note your personal approval rating in the left column poll.

• Great fun! I wonder how many of those people were innocent bystanders who just got caught up in the moment. Kinda' makes you wish you were English! (thx)



• I picked up a great link for Hike Arizona off David Hillis' Facebook ~ link

• I had to reset the RSS feed to get Jesus Creed to come up on the Google Reader ~ link

• Under the new administration US tax dollars are again flowing to fund abortions abroad. ~ link

• The Mac turns 25 ~ link

• Quotable:

I believe no culture in our times will be great without the liberal arts. A purely pragmatic society is a sick society, or at least one more akin to unreflective animals than to great humanity. But I acknowledge that the benefits are not immediately or transparently seen. And they are certainly not desired by the majority. It is hard to argue for the liberal arts in terms of immediate pay off. Most students do not go to college to get the liberal arts and institutions that focus on them without giving consumers a sense of "job acquisition" will close, will fail. ~ Ken Schenck

• Gospel Blimp 2009 -- Korean style ~ link

• The incredible cave house in Bisbee, Arizona is listed for a mere $1.95 million. Even if you're not really in the market it's worth checking out the photos. ~ link

Energetically seeking to receive grace

Quotable:

We must stop using the fact that we cannot earn grace (whether for justification or for sanctification) as an excuse for not energetically seeking to receive grace. Having been found by God, we then become seekers of ever-fuller life in him. Grace is opposed to earning, but not to effort. The realities of Christian spiritual formation are that we will not be transformed "into his likeness" by more information, or by infusions, inspirations, or ministrations alone. Though all of these have an important place, they never suffice, and reliance upon them alone explains the now-common failure of committed Christians to rise much above a certain level of decency.
~ Dallas Willard, The Great Omission, p. 76

The quote will be a discussion launcher for my Evangelism and Discipleship class in a week. It would be interesting to bring some outside opinions to the table. Any or all feedback -- brief or long would be beneficial (you can leave feedback in the comments section). The students are Chinese, Chuukese, and Palauan. So their experience may be different than yours or that of Willard, who is writing from an American perspective. If you leave a comment and I don't personally know you please say where you live.

• Do you agree with Willard?
  
• In your world do you think that Christians are saying they don't want to appear to be earning grace so they are more relaxed in their approach to spiritual growth than they ought to be?
• Or are there other issues involved in your context?
• What might those issues be?
• What are your personal observations regarding the reasons why Christians fail to grow into fully mature disciples?

Chicago bound?

Even from out here in the middle of the Pacific I'm hearing lots of grumbling from my Covenant pastor colleagues who are headed to Chicago for the Covenant Midwinter Conference and bitterly cold weather. (They don't grumble about the conference -- which is always excellent -- only the cold location.) If everyone decided to not go during the years that the conference is held in cold places the problem would fix itself. Grumble no more.

Not that I want to rub it in, but Cheryl and I are going to the Asian version of the Covenant Midwinter Conference held at New Travel Beach Resort, in Chantaburi, Thailand next month. There are a few benefits to living away from the mainland.

Random

• "Abortion is also torture." ~ Scot McKnight

• Academia.edu is facebook for academics. You can post teaching documents and research. ~ link

• The new grocery story in Chalan Pago is going to be called Island Fresh says the sign out front (apparently not Cost-U-Less as was originally reported). I'm guessing that I'm not the only mainland American who uses "island fresh" as a euphemism for the poor quality produce we get here. Some fruits and vegetables are fair to okay by the time they arrive on Guam. Nothing is ever excellent (very sad). But it is all "island fresh" and over-priced. They may want to rethink their new name.

• Missional hermenutics by Ken Schenck ~ link

Random

• The internet makes it more difficult to sweep the promises under the carpet. Introducing the Obameter -- tacking all 510 of Obama's campaign promises. (There are actually a few in there that I hope will fall through the cracks!) ~ link

• The new administrations first major mistake? ~ link

• Is the market just a big Ponzi scheme? ~ link

• California town loans auto-dealership money to stay in business. Over half of the town's tax-revenue comes from auto sales. ~ link

• The Internet was down on part of the PIBC campus this morning as the cable company was switching out some equipment. So I went over to the library to check my email. That was an eye-opener. Not that I've never been to the library before but the noise level was incredible. And it had nothing to do with the patrons. The library sits on a part of campus near an adjoining property that a construction company uses to store gravel, dirt, and earth-moving equipment. The beeping and rumbling of the tractors gave me a headache! We've got to do something about that.

• Contrary to yesterday's report there is no decision to close the ASU Polytechnic campus in east Mesa, says Virgil Renzulli, ASU vice-president for public affairs. ~ link

• Swedish researchers: "A laid back outlook, combined with an active lifestyle and outgoing personality may contribute to warding off the onset of dementia." ~ link

Random

• Lisa Miller (Newsweek) deconstructs Rick Warren's contribution to the inauguration ceremony. She is insightful and fair. ~ link

• There is not only a new president but a new White House website as well -- which includes a blog. Wow. I think we just entered the 21st century. ~ WhiteHouse.gov 2.0

• And they are tweeting, too. I decided to become a follower to see where they're going. So far there are only 5,370 followers. ~ link

• Apparently Joseph Lowery has become a right-winger -- based on his benediction -- "...and when white will embrace what is RIGHT." ~ link

Actually, he's used that line (about black, yellow, brown, red, and white) before. In the cyberworld he'd be labeled a troll. And everyone knows that the best way of dealing with trolls is to simply not feed them. "Please don't feed the trolls."

• Joseph Biden is the first Roman Catholic vice president in US history -- although many Catholics would disassociate themselves from him because of his position on abortion. ~ link

• Arizona State University might close their new east campus because of state budget cuts. "The polytechnic campus -- with its adjoining airport -- is the planned centerpiece of east Mesa’s future economic development." Tom Gibbs, one of the students from our congregation in Turlock, is currently studying there. ~ link

• We're a bit Guam-centric out here and if the new president doesn't stop by for a visit within the next week or so the locals are going to be wondering why he's forgotten them. ~ link

• New Canadian study: "The main finding of this study is that religious worship attendance is associated with a decreased risk of suicide attempts..." Just being "spiritual" doesn't seem to help. ~ link

Random

• William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham, has been invited to candidate to become the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. If he does end up with the call he'd be bringing the nearby congregation he started with him. Sounds like a net loss to me. ~ link

• Gannett says they'll shut down the Tucson Citizen if they can't find a buyer. ~ link

• Kent flies first thing in the morning. He's off to California for a week, then to Korea for 6 months. We'll miss him. We went to the Korean consulate this morning and by this afternoon Kent had a visa in his passport.

• This is not a good sign, especially in a troubled economy. The total tab for the presidential inauguration will be around $150 million. ~ link

• Past inaugural festivities ~ link

• 2005, George W. Bush, est. $40 million
• 2001, George W. Bush, est. $30 million
• 1997, Bill Clinton, est. $29 million
• 1993, Bill Clinton, est. between $25 million and $30 million
• 1989, George H.W. Bush, est. $30 million
• 1985, Ronald Reagan, est. $20 million
• 1981, Ronald Reagan, est. $16.3 million
• 1977, Jimmy Carter, est. $3.5 million
• 1973, Richard Nixon, est. $4 million

• My first class session of the semester starts in an hour -- Evangelism and Discipleship -- 6-9:30 p.m., Tuesdays.

• Worship IS mission ~ link

Free cars for life!

The face of the future

On the radio they keep calling him the first African-American president. But they're missing the point. He's not black. He's not white. He's not Island. He is fusion (or as some would say "third culture" -- "all of the above") -- which is the future of America.

While it is noteworthy that color is entering the White House through the front door, Obama's historical importance has less to do with how far we've come than with where we're going. The old categories (and related polarizations) are losing their significance. Some will find that reality painful -- but in Barak Obama we are seeing the face of the future.

It's not that we're all just going to get along and live happily ever after (this is not the second coming of Christ). There will still be cultural and ideological conflicts. They're just going to be different in nature than those of the past -- perhaps even more complex.

Random

• Weekend Edition had a fair and insightful piece on Rick Warren ~ link

• ChristianHistory.net has a nice little intro to August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) -- Pietist, leader in the movements to bring education to the masses and the gospel to the entire world. ~ link

• John Morehead has an interesting interview with John Drane (author of After McDonaldization) ~ link

• Of the roughly $2 billion in federal dollars the US spent in the Pacific insular areas in fiscal 2007, $1.5 billion was spent on Guam. ~ link

• Meluat has started a blog ~ link

• This is our last full day of President Bush.

• Some birds are just more colorful than others.

• "A Swedish court has ruled that a woman be allowed to seek treatment for her addiction to Coca Cola..." If the addictive tendencies and issues in our lives are strong enough we can become "addicted" to most anything. ~ link

#4,000

This is blog post #4,000
since I moved my website
to Blogger on
November 10, 2002.
And it's still fun.

Random

• US FDA: Don't eat peanut butter! -- "nationwide salmonella outbreak has killed 6, sickened hundreds." But don't throw your PB away, yet. They're working on narrowing the warning. ~ link

• I saw on Laura's Facebook that CyberHymnal has moved to a new website with a new URL -- hymntime.com -- sounds like a long complicated story. They provide a helpful service.

• The Southern Baptist Convention, which has for years attributed their growth to their staunch conservative theology, has gone into decline -- even after jettisoning all the moderates. ~ link

• Watch DJ Chuang's slides prepared for a lecture at Fuller Seminary -- "Reaching next Gen Asian Americans" ~ link

• Video of the Hudson River landing ~ link

• Marry Me (thx)

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

Random

• Coffee drinking reduces Alzheimer's risk according to Scandinavian researchers ~ link

• My copy of the December issue of Christianity Today showed up in the PO box today. At least it got here before Lent.

• Guam's Assistant fire chief has been arrested. He allegedly helped his girlfriend/common-law wife defraud a federally funded welfare-to-work program, getting her assigned to the fire department. The department signed off on her employment except she neglected to show up for work between 1997 and April 2008. ~ link

• Look for us on CNN! They're giving Guam free commercials for a week to correct their misleading video footage last year which depicted Guam as a less than modern cosmopolitan destination. ~ link

• Coolness award -- laser-lite bike lanes ~ link

• Hole-in-the-wall dining -- Sesomjai has the best Thai food on Guam -- in our humble American opinions. Kent's B-Day dinner was great.

Random

• Happy B-Day Kent!-- our now 23-yr-old who is with us on Guam for few more days before heading back to the US & then off to Korea for a 6-month teaching gig. He spent his special day getting in some last minute study for the GRE, which he takes tomorrow afternoon. We celebrate tomorrow night.

• Some Fortune 500 companies are relying on psychics -- voodoo economics. That explains a lot. ~ link

• $1 million/week for Guam's new dump site (you can insist we call it a "landfill" but it's still a dump) -- time to pay the piper for years and years of short-cuts, mismanagement, and political inertia. It eventually catches up with you. The governor says, it "would basically destroy our government and our ability to provide services." There has got to be an out-of-the-box solution. ~ link

• She is BOTH a Benedictine nun and a Presbyterian minister. ~ link

• Dave Olson has been selected as the nominee for the position of executive minister of the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism of the Evangelical Covenant Church. No surprise. Good choice. ~ link

• Seth Godin thinks I'm boring. He's probably not the only one. Sometimes even I think I'm boring. ~ link

• Google is killing off Google Notebook -- a tool I use regularly and would use more often if it were improved a bit. ~ link

Cartoon for Sunday

This is the Agnus Day cartoon for this Sunday's gospel text. It only goes to prove that God has an island orientation to time.

Random

• 600 people showed up for the first Sunday of the church launched through Facebook (and other internet channels). I want you to know that I'm a close friend of Shaun King -- along with 2,333 other people he friended on Facebook. ~ link

• Latest National Center for Health Statistics stats on births to unmarried mothers in the US -- whites: 26.6%; blacks: 70.7%; Hispanics: 49.9%; all races: 38.5% ~ link

• A disproportionate number of flights into Guam arrive in the middle of the night. If you're coming from the States and flying through Japan (which is often the cheapest route) you will arrive in the middle of the night!

I'm doing a 2 a.m. airport run in a few hours to pick up a couple of PIBC volunteers in transit to Yap. I'll do the same on Friday morning to pick up Larry Bock, one of our teachers. We all more or less take it in stride. Just don't look for me on campus first thing in the morning.

Random

• Turn the speakers up for this Mac vs. PC clip (thx)

• It may take awhile to implement but President Obama plans to order the closing of the Guantánamo detention center on his first day of work. After a brief hiatus human rights are back on the American agenda. ~ link

• ¡Viva Michoacán! Spreading the joy of Mexican ice cream ~ link

• "The Printed Blog, a startup founded and funded by former business productivity software entrepreneur Joshua Karp, is launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in cities across the country aggregating localized blog posts." Why? ~ link

Random

• I took this short video of Iggy, the Plaxton's cat, one evening when we were at their home a few weeks ago.

• The pineapple is so very sweet. I'll bring samples to campus tomorrow. I cleaned the crown and put it in water (some roots were already developing!). So the next generation is already in the works.

• 1 in 200 American kids are vegetarians -- PETA videos on YouTube have bigger impact than health concerns. ~ link

• Score again for citrus power! Taiwanese researchers:

Polymethoxyflavones (PMFs), found exclusively in the Citrus genus, particularly in the peel of sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis) and mandarin oranges (Citrus reticulate), have a broad spectrum of biological activities including anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor activities. The intake of citrus fruit has been suggested for prevention of the development of certain human cancers. It is also commonly recognized that cancer induction can be prevented by ingestion of certain food phytochemicals. Flavonoids in citrus fruits and juices have been said to be one of the most prominent cancer-preventing agents. PMFs have higher permeability through the small intestine and are readily absorbed into the human blood circulatory system... ~ link

• It's been awhile since I mentioned Mike Morrell and Philip Scriber. These guys have been compiling this incredible list of "the best Jesus-infused sites you've never heard about" since Al Gore invented the internet -- 7,000+ links. ~ link

• Urbanization causing major climate shifts. Even heavier levels of commuter traffic lead to less rainfall -- correlation according to ASU researchers. ~ link