Random

✽ Global air pollution map ~ NASA

✽ Germany will payoff the final outstanding reparations for World War I (yes, ONE!) this Sunday. And you think that your student loan is taking forever to payoff! ~ Washington Post

✽ Which profession drinks the most coffee? ~ ABC15

✽ Nearly 5% of Arizona's households are valued at $1 million or more. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

✽ David Fitch on video venue churches. ~ link

✽ "Only 29% of tweets actually produce a reaction..." Any retweeting that happens generally happens in the first hour after it was posted. ~ link

✽ The whole immigration set-up on both Guam and in the CNMI is pretty screwed up. And people are getting hurt because of it. The same rules should apply to all US territories and states. The US should have a reputation for being consistent. ~ Saipan Tribune

✽ Do graffiti -- do a year in prison. ~ Yuma Sun

✽ The US government has begun releasing money for the military build-up on Guam. ~ link

Random

✽ Hopefully voters will pay attention to the confirmed facts. The FBI and the Phoenix PD are reporting that contrary to some fear-mongering politicians, "Phoenix violent crime figures reached 20-year lows: homicides were at a 20-year low with clearance rates reaching 20-year highs; property crimes were at a 25-year low with more than 24,000 fewer victims between 2006-2009; and, motor vehicle thefts reported more than 14,000 fewer victims during the same time period." ~ link

✽ "French fries with mayonnaise" -- Watch the video that explains why Belgium is anything but boring. ~ The World

✽ "Taste is the ability to select, combine and create experiences that the tribe likes--before they know that they like it." ~ Seth Godin

✽ “An Introduction To Hmong Culture” ~ Larry Ferlazzo reccomends Ya Po Cha's new book.

✽ Apparently, if you ask an aheist or agnostic to explain what Christians believe you will get a better explaination than if you ask a Christian, according to a new Pew survey. ~ Pew Forum | LA Times

✽ "The bottom line is that all musical arrangements can be found to 'work' for worship in successfully diverse churches, so no specific form is absolutely necessary to accomplish diversity." ~ Gerardo Marti in "What Music Styles Work Best in Racially Diverse Churches?"

✽ Blue pill? A British study suggests that people who participate in online social networking are happier and more satisfied with life than those who do not. ~ NY Times

✽ For the many of you who are teaching English to non-native speakers, check out Jason Renshaw's "Wizard English Grids for Emergent Language Development" ~ link

✽ Make a Pepsi or Doritos commercial for the Superbowl and it could be worth millions to you. ~ link

Random

✽ If Queensland is serious about luring Americans to Oz they need to include some vocalists who sound like Aussies. Americans love the Australian accent. It certainly wouldn't take too much to talk me into returning to Cairns -- where you not only hear Australian accents but most every European and a number of Asian accents as well. (via)

✽ Hans Rosling: "Richer countries have lower murder rates (exception is USA with 10 times the rates of comparable countries)" ~ link

✽ The majority of illegal immigrants in Mexico come from the US. Mexico doesn't seem too upset about the situation. ~ Global Post

✽ I'm certainly no fan of Joe -- but a song called "Kill Joe Arpaio" is not only offensive, it is wrong. ~ KTAR

✽ If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat.
If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.
You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads,
and the LORD will reward you. ~ Proverbs 25:21-22 (NLT)

Random

✽ Fly fishing on the scenic LA River ~ link

✽ Is this really new news? "College reputation may matter more for job-seekers who majored in fields like engineering and accounting than in less 'pre-professional' fields, such as history, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of recent college graduates." ~ WSJ

✽ The CityCenter development, on the Las Vegas Strip, looks like it belongs in NYC. At first glance the lines look like the slums in Manila. ~ New Yorker

✽ "Sensation always obscures the real issues..." ~ line heard in an old episode of Inspector Morse on Masterpiece Theater

Random

✽ More สิงโต นำโชค, Singto Numchok -- I just love this guy's style. And he has a terrific voice. I'd love to see him on stage with Jake Shimabukuro. They'd feed performance energy to each other.

✽ New face of Arizona's poor: College-educated, laid-off and homeless ~ EV Trib

✽ Over 30 election workers failed to show up during the primary election on Guam. Now they're in hot water. ~ KUAM

✽ A Montana woman fought off an attacking bear with a zucchini from her garden. I've had a few zucchinis that became clubs when I neglected to pick them in time. When they're that big they don't taste very good so I suppose using them to whack a bear is the next best thing. ~ link

Random

✽ Amazing -- haunting

✽ In China they are tearing down buildings as fast as they put them up -- sometimes faster. ~ link

✽ American evangelicals have stepped up to the plate for foster kids. ~ WSJ

✽ India's new chili-pepper weaponry -- “It cannot kill but even the slightest contact with a chili weapon could immobilize crowds and put people in unbearable pain for several hours...” Is the "unbearable pain" part really necessary if you can simply immobilize an assailant?~ link

✽ "In the US, there are 88 unmarried men (over age 18) for every 100 unmarried women." ~ WSJ

✽ Another dentist thru the revolving door. There aren't dentists with their own practices here. All seem to work for someone else -- temporarily.

✽ Nudge by Leonard Sweet looks on target -- but it is not available for e-readers. But chapter 1 is online.

✽ "Two nationally known forensic pathologists are questioning a sheriff deputy's version of how he was shot in the remote desert south of Phoenix, adding to theories that the incident was a hoax timed to enflame the debate over illegal immigration." ~ AP

✽ When Sheriff Joe Arpaio avoids the TV cameras you know that he must be in really hot water. ~ KTAR

Random

✽ Now Americans can dress thier children like little Swedes. ~ link

✽ Really good technology wisdom -- "What Kevin Kelly learned about technology when he homeschooled his son" ~ BoingBoing

✽ I think he hits all the relevant points. Phil Cooke on "Why Boycotts Don't Work" ~ link

✽ Tom Wright reads Humpty Dumpty ~ link

✽ Cheryl dreams up the best recipes. Tonight it was a creamy squash soup with both curry and sausage. We topped it with chopped onions and cilantro, sliced avocado... Don't ask for the recipe because she just makes this stuff up with what she has around.

✽ They were having alien problems down in Tucson last night -- probably smugglers and drug cartels. No abduction reports but still, why doesn't Obama do something about that border problem? ~ KOLD

Random

✽ "The Christian activists turn the tables on the stereotype that configures an Ivy League education into a formula for fame and fortune." ~ SF Chronicle regarding New Hope Covenant Church in Oakland, California. Great story. Why is this kind of story seen as so unusual?

✽ Boy, yousse in a heap of trouble. America's favorite tough guy sheriff has some serious splainin' to do. ~ $64 million misused from jail operations. This isn't a matter of misplacing a few petty cash receipts. This appears to be either big time fraud or at best misfeasance. ~ AZ Central

✽ Haiti gets tuition free online university ~ link

✽ Only seven people have become farm workers through the UFW's offer to put any US citizen to work. Lot's of interest but few sign-up. ~ link

✽ Facebook notifies users of outage via Twitter. (My account seems unaffected.) ~ WSJ

✽ Out of Ur asks: Is age-segmentation in worship the same as racial segregation? ~ link

✽ Barbie is so much more than she used to be -- news anchor, geek, pediatrician, dentist, babysitteer... ~ link

Random

✽ Today is the Moon Festival in China and Vietnam. This fall harvest festival dates back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. These days it's a chance to hangout with friends and family -- and to eat the traditional mooncakes. I wonder if MoonPies are an acceptable substitute. ~ link

✽ One of our neighbors shot a kid who was breaking into his house yesterday.  ~ ABC15

✽ We made key lime pie yesterday and I learned something new. A 14 oz can of Nestle's leche condensada azucarada is $1 cheaper than a 14 oz can of Kroeger house brand sweetened condensed milk. Another argument for bilingual education. (BTW, key lime pie tastes great in any language!)

✽ Is $250,000/year enough to live on? ~ link

✽ Ikea is expanding in Asia. I suppose that means everything will be closer to the manufacturers there. ~ The Local

✽ Pew Research: "Unauthorized immigrants are ~4% of US adult pop.; their children make up 8% of the newborn population." ~ link

✽ Saying that the recession is over is a bit like saying that global warming is real while you're in the middle of a 30-below blizzard. It may be statistically true but hard to grasp.

✽ "The sad irony is that everything we do to prop up the last economy (more obedience, more compliance, cheaper yet average) gets in the way of profiting from this one." ~ Seth Godin

✽ Krista West on how ancient business and government attire morphed into ecclesiastical uniforms. ~ link

✽ Steven Johnson's TED talk -- where good ideas come from -- open innovative systems. I've got the book on my desk and now I'll have to read it. ~ link

✽ Dementia cost 'to top 1% of GDP' ~ BBC

Options:

1. Increase research efforts (& funding) to overcome the problem.
2. "Euthanize" anyone who shows "signs" of dementia.
3. Increase the GDP, thus lowering percentage which dementia costs.
4. Reduce the number of low and middle income countries.
5. Live with it as is.

✽ Oops

(via)

Random

✽ "Walmart Goes Solar With 30 Thin Film Installations" ~ Fast Company

✽ Disappointed supporters are confronting President Obama, according to a NY Times story.  ~ link

Okay, he's not the strongest president we've ever had. But only the historically naive would say that he is the worst. I wonder if people (both on the right and the left) have been just totally unrealistic about him. We have projected so much onto Obama that it's no wonder that he can't live up to expectations. He's just the president -- not the messiah. Yes, he's the first president of color but that doesn't mean he can instantly repair all the damage of centuries of racism. Yes, he's of a different political bent than the previous president but that doesn't mean that he is capable of instantly turning the policy tide. (Campaign promises are by nature unrealistic.) While we may (or may not) need to make a change in two years we do need to get real now.

✽ The recession ended in June 2009 ~ WSJ

✽ "The Angry Rich" -- a little sweeping but there is at least a kernel of truth in here:

Now, however, as decision time looms for the fate of the Bush tax cuts — will top tax rates go back to Clinton-era levels? — the rage of the rich has broadened, and also in some ways changed its character.

For one thing, craziness has gone mainstream. It’s one thing when a billionaire rants at a dinner event. It’s another when Forbes magazine runs a cover story alleging that the president of the United States is deliberately trying to bring America down as part of his Kenyan, “anticolonialist” agenda, that “the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s.” When it comes to defending the interests of the rich, it seems, the normal rules of civilized (and rational) discourse no longer apply.

At the same time, self-pity among the privileged has become acceptable, even fashionable.

Tax-cut advocates used to pretend that they were mainly concerned about helping typical American families. Even tax breaks for the rich were justified in terms of trickle-down economics, the claim that lower taxes at the top would make the economy stronger for everyone.

These days, however, tax-cutters are hardly even trying to make the trickle-down case. These days, however, tax-cutters are hardly even trying to make the trickle-down case. Yes, Republicans are pushing the line that raising taxes at the top would hurt small businesses, but their hearts don’t really seem in it. Instead, it has become common to hear vehement denials that people making $400,000 or $500,000 a year are rich. I mean, look at the expenses of people in that income class — the property taxes they have to pay on their expensive houses, the cost of sending their kids to elite private schools, and so on. Why, they can barely make ends meet.

And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it’s their money, and they have the right to keep it. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,” said Oliver Wendell Holmes — but that was a long time ago. ~ Paul Krugman, NY Times

✽ Insightful Martin Marty: "The tantrum...against government, taxes, Muslims, and moderates continues to rage..." ~ link

✽ Do you have health insurance for your pet? I'm not sure what I think about that. Responsible, given the high cost of vet care? Outrageous that we're spending so much money on pets when we can't even provide adequate health care and insurance for people? ~ link

✽ "The long-term payoff from earning a college degree is growing, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by the College Board..." Not that I disagree but the College Board is not exactly impartial. ~ NY Times

Random

✽ "Restaurant Makes Best Out of ‘B’ Grade" ~ WSJ

✽ For real -- spray-on clothing -- something to wear while I drive my flying car ~ link

✽ One of my favorite theologians, Roger Olson identifies the two opposite forces pulling evangelicals apart -- "particularistic tribalism" and "generic, plain label Christianity." So, what are the forces pulling people together? Perhaps that is a future blog post. ~ link

✽ You are God Alone -- music video ~ link

✽ "Pope's astronomer says he would baptise an alien if it asked him -- An alien – 'no matter how many tentacles it has' – could have a soul, says pope's astronomer" ~ Guardian

Random

✽  "Crowd accelerated innovation" -- cycles of improvement driven by people watching webvideo ~ Chris Anderson @ TEDS (via)

✽  Facebook is getting fast. With some of the previous impression ads it took 24+ hours to get an ad approved. The latest took less than two minutes. (I know, some of you are going to be annoyed that I haven't cut the Facebook leash, yet. I'm an undercover agent in the evil empire.)

✽  Colbert on mutually assured coercion ~ link

✽  "Jesus didn't preach tolerance" --

Tolerance costs me nothing. Loving others — seeking their good, willing their prosperity and happiness, genuinely desiring their companionship — this is the hazardous business of community, of relationship-building, of making and sustaining friendships for the long haul. Tolerance is all too happy to avoid all this. Tolerance turns out to be a means for keeping us estranged from one another while we pride ourselves on our progressive politics or our general open-mindedness whatever our politics. ~ Debra Dean Murphy in the Christian Century

✽  Is curling on your bucket list? ~ AZ Central

Common English Bible quirks

The more I read of the newly released New Testament of the Common English Bible, the more the translation quirks jump out at me. For example, what's with the random vocative (apparently) "look" that doesn't make sense in English and to the best of my exegetical ability I don't see in the Greek?

Matthew 9:19-20 -- So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. Then, look, a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his clothes.

Matthew 17:5 -- While he was still speaking, look, a bright cloud overshadowed them. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love. I am very pleased with him. Listen to him!” Hearing this, the disciples fell on their faces, filled with awe.

Anybody care to enlighten me as to what's going on there?

UPDATE:
Yes, there is an ἰδοὺ ("look") in there in the Greek -- which I looked at five times and glossed over five times. So much for my skills of observation!

I still wonder, though, why the translators included it in the English -- or at least in the way that they did. We don't use that form in English very often anymore and when we do it it seems to be at the beginning of a sentence -- as in "Look, if I've told you once I've told you a thousand times...." It makes for clunky reading to insert it as they did.

More of Singto Numchok

I can't help but love this guy's music. It is so colorful, optimistic, and upbeat -- reflective of the Thai pop scene right now.

Random

✽ "Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are leading a global decline in new HIV infections, the UN has said." ~ BBC

✽ Roger Olson: For some the Trinity is Father, Son and Holy Bible... He nails it.

I believe in the Bible as God’s Word BECAUSE I believe I encounter Jesus there and am taught by him there. For me it is the Book of Jesus. That means it is extremely important, necessary, valuable, indispensable, but not alongside of or even in the same category (being-wise) as Jesus himself. It is the unique written witness to Jesus and THEREFORE the book of the church. 

I suspect this upsets some evangelicals because, even perhaps unconsciously, they believe in Jesus only because and insofar as the Bible contains him. In other words, functionally, the Bible is above Jesus. 

The implications of these two approaches for hermeneutics are immense. My view requires Christological hermeneutics. The other view tends to lead to having to interpret everything the Bible says as as literally true as possible without exception or qualification. When conservatives talk about progressive revelation I suspect they are borrowing from my view even as they deny it in most of what they say about the Bible and how they perform it. ~ link

✽ "Dance Your PhD" -- Scientists from around the world have created dance videos based on their graduate research ~ link

✽ Leonard Sweet talking about the nudge approach to evangelism in TheOoze.tv interview. ~ link

✽ Ruth Gledhill: "How many people knew that the Popemobile has a top speed of 160 mph for emergencies?" If they ever got above 25 mph it would be the fastest that the Roman Catholic Church had ever gone. ~ link

✽ Arizona uses rubberized asphalt to reduce road noise. In order to apply the asphat over the cement base the surface needs to be between 85° and 145°. That means they can only do this work in the spring and fall. In the winter the road surfaces get too cold and in the summer they get too hot. ~ ADOT

✽ The island cops all stick together and know how to have a little fun. Guam PD singing the Hawaii Five-O song -- led by the chief. (Actually, I think they're rather be singing Guam Five-1.)


✽ If I weren't so distracted I'd head to DC for the competing October 30th marches on the National Mall -- "March to Keep Fear Alive" led by Stephen Colbert and the "Rally to Restore Sanity" led by Jon Stewart. The permit application says they expect 25,000 people but I'm thinking that it could easily be 100x that. ~ link

✽ "Stewart-Colbert Rally: Could There Be Long-Term Political Implications?" ~ Time Newsfeed

✽ "More than one out of five Arizonans live in poverty, a figure higher than anywhere else in the nation except for Mississippi." ~ link

Thai ukes -- fun pop

Singto Numchok performing สิงโต นำโชค (Lucky lion) ~ via

Random

(via)

✽ "Possible Tornado Rocks NYC" ~ WSJ

✽ What do you think? "In America, $11,000 a Year Is Not Poor" ~ link

✽ KBAQ has some new HD stations available. ~ link

Common English Bible

On a whole I'm liking the newly released New Testament of the Common English Bible. It's quite readable and an accurate enough dynamic equivalence translation. Of course, no single translation can capture all the nuances of the original text and remain readable. That's why having multiple translations available is important.

Here is a sample -- John 1:11-14:

The light came to his own people,
and his own people didn’t welcome him.
But those who did welcome him,
those who believed in his name,
he authorized to become God’s children,
born not from blood
nor from human desire or passion,
but born from God.
The Word became flesh
and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
glory like that of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.

For comparison, here is the same passage from the New Living Translation, which has a somewhat similar approach to translation:

He came to his own people,
 and even they rejected him.
But to all who believed him and accepted him,
he gave the right to become children of God.
They are reborn—not with a physical birth
resulting from human passion or plan,
but a birth that comes from God.

So the Word became human
and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory,
the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

The NLT is more conversational in tone and a little more loose -- or interprative, except in the last line where the CEB potentially shifts the meaning of the original by saying that his glory is "like" that of a father's only son... That is a little different than saying that it is the glory of the Father's one and only Son. I'm thinking that the CEB is spinning the ὡς there in a slightly different direction -- a direction which no other translations seem to take -- although the NRSV moves that direction.

I'll fly away

I mentioned yesterday that Pacific Islands University is now training students to be scuba divers. It appears that they're also giving flying lessons. Here are some dedicated students preparing for a test.

Photo borrowed from Kita Mokut's Facebook album

Robots teaching English in S Korea

from the Chronicle of Higher Education

Random

✽  I like the Bible and I like C.S. Lewis -- but I'm hesitant about The C.S. Lewis Bible. I'm not sure that Lewis would appreciate his name being attached to a Bible.

✽  Walter Russell Mead:

...Walmart and its Big Box friends are making the world a greener, more sustainable place. This isn’t because of any PR stunts or corporate green initiatives they may have going; it’s because they are relentlessly focused on profit and efficiency. It is their cutthroat capitalism not their sense of corporate citizenship that will save us — if anything can. 

Walmart is helping to save the planet because it’s tough and realistic and focused like a laser on the bottom line... ~ link

✽  How is it that Republican leaders recruited nine people to run as Arizona Green Party nominees? Are there any ethical standards left? I thought Republicans stood for self-responsibility. ~ link

✽  Positive picketing? What do you think? Good idea? ~ link

✽  "A looming crisis for all American evangelical churches is that they cannot thrive outside of the shrinking enclaves of conservative and traditional people and culture. We have not created the new ministry and communication... models that will flourish and grow in the coming post-Christian very secular Western world." ~ Tim Keller (as quoted by Ed Stetzer, who is arguing for more attention to contextualization.)

✽ I turned off one of the church's Facebook ads a week ago because it looked like it had run its course. On whim I restarted it two days ago and yesterday it generated twice the response of its previous best day.

✽  Go figure -- "An organization that works with schools and parents to discourage children from drug and alcohol abuse is asking the Phoenix City Council to approve a liquor license for an October concert." ~ AZ Central

Random

✽ Perhaps the humor in it makes the sign feel less obnoxious. (via)

✽ See, the economic recovery in Arizona is going pretty well -- "Arizona will get its second LEGO Store next month when a new location opens at Arrowhead Towne Center in Glendale." ~ EV Trib

✽ Cuba puts the pedal to the rusted metal heading toward capitalism. It will be a bumpy ride trying to shift without a clutch. ~ CSM

✽ Violent crime was down in Arizona before 1070 -- 14%. But we already knew that. ~ link

✽ China's great firewall seems to be largely effective in controlling the interests of the masses who don't want to go through the hassle of circumventing it. ~ CHE

✽ Yale University, Singapore ~ CHE

✽ I think that is was Eric Sorenson who came up with the great idea of a recreational scuba diving program to assist PIU students in finding employment after graduation. They'll even be able to minor in Outdoor Ministry with an emphasis in water recreation. Creative and helpful. ~ link

✽ Canadian Army recruiting film.

Random

✽  Dr Vernon Grounds, the great irenic evangelical voice, has completed the race and died at the age of 96. He exemplified 20th century evangelicalism at its best. ~ link

✽  Martin Marty seeks to be a level-headed and reasonable voice in his Sightings column -- "Franklin Graham on Islam and Violence" ~ link

✽  Flying is already stressful and uncomfortable. What could they possibly do to make it worse? Apparently they've got a design committee working on answering that question. ~ link

✽  "Allegiant Air adding 16 more seats per plane" -- Hmmm... I don't care how cheap they are. I won't even bookmark their website.  ~ link

✽  Solution! Perhaps you, my beloved ministry partners, would like to shell out $1 million to buy an airplane for me. ~ link

✽  What's with the bedbug plague in the US? We never had this problem before Obama. (Hey, everything else gets blamed on him.)  ~ link

✽  "Join us Monday, September 20 for the National Call-in Day on the Child Protection Compact Act!" ~ IJM

✽  Would YOU get a tattoo of your church's logo? How about your favorite beer? I remember seeing a guy on Weno (Chuuk, Micronesia) with a Budweiser logo tattoo -- a walking billboard. ~ link

✽  Buy one Jamba Juice, get another free. ~ link

✽  "Be careful. There may be some media that sneaked into the room.” ~ Sarah Palin. This is stale rhetoric that isn't even funny -- in any context.

✽  The new Covenant office building at 8303 West Higgins Road (Chicago, IL, 60631) opened for business yesterday morning. It's the old LaSalle Bank building next to Hooters (the ribbing over which I'm sure will grow old quickly). ~ See the video

✽  Getting old ain't what it used to be -- massive pension fraud in Japan -- "More than 230,000 Japanese people listed as 100 years old cannot be located and many may have died decades ago, according to a government survey released today." ~ Guardian

✽  The people screaming the loudest about the "Obama stimulus" seem to have little problem spending the money. ~ link

Random

✽ Map by Andrew Goldsmith

✽ Would people whine about the prez giving a school kick-off speech if he were a Republican? A tea-partier? Chill peeps -- he's THE president of the United States of America. It will click will some kid this year and he'll say, if someone like Obama can do it so can I. ~ link

✽ The Mexican government has recently been experiencing quite a bit of success against the drug cartels. ~ EV Trib

Luke 15:1-10

Don Johnson posted on his sermon. ~ link

Here is my take on the passage and the outline of my talk this evening:

1. Intro -- Discussion of the episode of Shaun the Sheep when all the sheep (except Shaun) took a bus into town to attend the carnival. Bitzer the sheep dog had to go find them -- for their own sake.

2. Story of a boy from Cheryl's day-care (a long time ago) who grew up and lost his way. But he was recently found and everyone is excited about his recovery from addictions and new found faith. That's a positive example because not everyone is always excited when a lost person is found.

3. In Luke 15 there are three parables or stories about what happens when what was lost is found. In all three there is joy and celebration -- something which certain religious leaders didn't get because they were not in touch with the heart of God.

4. Key idea: God is passionate about finding those who are lost, and wants his people to join with him in celebrating those who are found.

5. But it's not always easy to celebrate the found -- sometimes it's really hard.

• The found can still be pretty messy -- even those who are found can have residual messiness.
• The found are so undeserving. We like it when people get what they deserve.
• Those who never think of themselves as found feel entitled to the bulk of God's attention -- for in their minds they've been faithful.

6. If you're lost God is passionate about finding you. This is what Jesus was up to.

7. If you're not currently among the lost -- God is recruiting you to share his heart for the lost. This is why we exist as a church -- to share God's heart -- and to celebrate his successes -- his grace ad generosity.

Random

✽  Imagine how much more fun this bike would be if the horse frame was actually a line of neon-colored LED lights. ~ link (via)

✽  Jellyfish invade Walden Pond ~ Boston Globe

✽  Jupiter under asteroid attack ~ link

✽  Those melting glaciers may not have the impact on ocean levels that some are expecting. ~ link

✽  There had been a Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower, which of course, was destroyed in the collapse on 9-11. The most accurate estimate that I've seen suggests that about 65 victims of the terrorist attacks that day were Muslims. ~ NY Times

✽  I ♥ key lime pie -- almost as much as chocolate.

Kent sent pictures from China

#1 is looking into the Chinese city of Yanji.

#2 is looking across the river into North Korea.

Nice terrain.

Random

(via)

✽  The modern Language Association has an interactive language map which shows how many people speak a language in a particular area. ~ link

✽  Since someone has decided that 9-11 should now be called "Patriot Day" I'll offer my definition of a patriot. A true patriot does not care so much about flying the colors, reciting a pledge, or singing an anthem, rather, quite simply, a true patriot is someone who is enamored with the well being of his or her people.

✽  Have you seen the Foursome Trivia Challenge on Sweeplee? ~ link

✽  Signs of fall:

• The tap water is once again cool (more or less).
• It was cool enough that I could start planting again: white pomegranate, dragon fruit, crescent orange, garlic, pineapples...
• Cheryl and I were actually starting to feel a little cool out there on the patio, under the misters @ Rubios last night.

Random

✽ There are 70,440 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at Arizona State University this fall -- a new record. I suspect that makes it the largest public university in the US. That, however, is only significant in that ASU is bigger than anything in Texas. ~ KTAR

✽ "Two federal investigations have concluded that Arizona is violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act by shortchanging thousands of students whose first language is not English.

Unless remedied, the violations could lead to a loss of federal funding for education in Arizona." ~ AZ Central

✽ The University of Notre Dame has a new PhD program in theology and peace studies. ~ link

✽ Recent grads having a hard time finding work in America are having success in Asia. ~ CNN

✽ "Sun City pediatrician indicted in child-pornography case" -- There are pediatricians in Sun City? That should have been the first clue that something was amiss. ~ AZ Central

✽  There wasn't much political will to maintain the "don't ask ask, don't tell" policy, anyway. The judge's ruling simply spares the politicians from having to offend some segments of their constituencies. ~ link

Random

✽ Fire tornado pictures -- this one from Hawaii ~ National Geographic

✽ Diggin' the electric bagpipe in the new Keith and Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend song, "By Faith" ~ link

✽ "Is people group thinking still relevant in today’s more-urban world?" Doug Lucas responds. ~ link

✽ Our governor's political rhetoric is sounding more and more like delusional paranoia. Troubling and sad. Do we need to do an intervention? ~ AZ Central

✽ Mesa, Arizona was the fastest growing city in the nation in the 70, 80's, and early 90's. Now it may be experiencing population decline. ~ KTAR

✽ Not very many people are moving into Arizona these days -- and that is slowing the economic recovery here. Is it that everyone thinks we're all a bunch of bigots? Or maybe they've somehow got the impression that this is a third world war zone. Have we become our own worst enemy?~ AZ Central

✽  We learned at the Laveen Community Council meeting last night that enrollment in Laveen schools is up 8% over last year.

✽  Glen Stassen plugging the Christian ethics emphasis at Fuller Theological Semianry -- short, simple, clear introduction to the idea of Christian ethics. ~ Vimeo

✽  All of the attention we're giving these "pastors" in Florida only serves to validate their "ministry" -- at least in their minds. ~ link

✽  9-11 has morphed into something called "Patriot Day" in the US. (That's because we were lacking in holidays to demonstrate nationalism.)

✽ Rosh Hashanah -- שנה טובה תכתבו

✽ And today is National Weinerschnitzel Day. (I think that one came into existence to correct the American perception that weinerschnitzel is somehow related to the hot dog.)

✽ Donations for the Covenant World Relief Pakistan relief fund will be distributed through the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, which has a 30-year history of ministering in Pakistan. 1,600 people have been killed in the flooding but 13.8 million people have suffered extensive loss. ~ link

✽ The ASU Police Department now using three-wheeled Piagios for patrol. Way cool. ~ ABC15

✽ Oh great, I got email that says, "Arizona Bankruptcy is now following you on Twitter!" That exactly what I need -- bankruptcy in hot pursuit! But I think they're probably wasting their time and energy. They should go follow someone else around!

✽ Never mind, the whole revolution thingy was probably a mistake. "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore..." ~ Fidel Castro

✽ Sweeplee.com is my site which highlights the he best and most engaging of the online promotional games and sweepstakes.

Random

✽ I'm not as passionate about pennies as this guy. But I believe we could function well without them. Hey, if the Aussies can do it, so can we.

✽ The Smurfs are betting on China. ~ WSJ

✽ I'm already scared. A Shrek Halloween TV special is planned for the US -- but I heard about it from the BBC. ~ BBC

✽  Bill Kinnon: "Idiot decides to do something stupid. 1000s wail about the idiocy. Idiot thrives on the attention. But ppl, cut off the oxygen & a fire dies" ~ link

✽  Roger Olson playing with the idea of purgatory:

The question that bothers me is this: How can we picture men (and perhaps some women) who absolutely hated people entering into the joys of paradise without some kind of correction? Of course, as a committed Protestant I cannot imagine paradise or heaven as a place of completion of one’s salvation. But I can imagine a justified person being greeted at the gate by St. Peter (imagery) saying “Hello. Yes, you’re name is in the book. But before entering fully into the joys of this place you’ll need to take a class taught by [so-and-so] and experience correction and reconciliation.” And I can imagine every truly saved person saying “Yes! Of course. Thank you. Let’s get started.” In other words, I don’t envision this “purgatory” as suffering except in the sense that all correction involves some suffering. But for the truly saved person true correction is also a blessing... ~ link

✽  What's up with earthquakes in Oklahoma? ~ link | USGS background

✽  "North Korea accepts flood aid offer from South" ~ BBC

The Lost Sheep

I am planning to talk about the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-10 on Sunday night at our gathering. Usually, when we talk about this parable the emphasis is on the fact that the shepherd left 99 behind to find one. And that is an important part of the story. But in the context of the other parables it almost seems incidental to the main point -- the punch-line of the story.

Jesus is talking about how big the party will be when something lost is found. The parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son all seem to be zingers aimed at some religious stooges who were having trouble entering into the joy of the lost being found. IOW, the coming of the kingdom of God, which involves restoring the lost, isn't a burden to bear or a procedure to follow -- but a celebration into which we enter.

Why do we miss this point? It's easy to get so caught up in running the affairs of the flock -- and making sure that everything is done exactly according to proper procedure -- that, well, we get distracted when things don't go according to our plans. When that happens we lose focus as to what is important and that zaps the joy. But the good news is simple. Jesus is about helping the lost become found. And when that happens we rejoice (even if they end up in the wrong denomination or of the wrong theological persuasion).

Random

✽  Brain 'rust' a cause of Alzheimer's Disease -- "An imbalance in the metals needed for healthy brain function has been found at the root of the degenerative disease which afflicts 10 per cent of people aged over 60." ~ link

✽  This has been one of the hotest summers on record in Phoenix. It's not that the daytime highs are above average but that the night time lows are averaging 3° above normal. ~ KTAR

✽  The rise of Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD):

...The narcissist’s insatiable quest for attention (what Vaknin was the first to describe as “narcissistic supply”), leads him or her to seek out a steady source of admiration. Where that is in short supply, the narcissist prefers to inspire fear or hatred than suffer the nightmare of being ignored. And unable to empathise, they are indifferent to the consequences of hurting people... ~ FT (via)

✽  An Irishman's reflections on Americans ~ link

✽  Steve Martin's YouTube "Atheist Song - First hymnal for Atheists" -- entertaining ~ link

✽ Why are we so unconvinced of the value of these government initiated stimulus plans? It just seems that the last dose of stimulation didn't do so much. I'm all for infra-structure improvements but the root of the problem is located in the housing sector. The "stimulus" is all going toward roads and railroads. I'm not catching the logic. ~ link

✽  Previously unseen color film footage of London during the Blitz in WWII ~ BBC

✽  Design with Intent -- patterns for influencing behavior through deisgn ~ link (via)

✽  I'm still remembering how great the roast beef on giant croissant roll was yesterday. I'm so glad that there is at least one Lee's Sandwich store in Arizona. The Irish guy is right, we do like food. ~ link

Random

✽ Japanese Precision Walking Competition (via):




✽ Some good news -- "Supposedly extinct red fox discovered near Yosemite National Park" ~ LA Times

✽ To feed the growth, China is buying Australia -- a square meter at a time. ~ Businessweek

Silly Sign

Random

✽ These church banners look like a photoshop job. If they aren't, this church may want to re-arrange its entry way signage -- or they might just want to totally transition away from using acronyms for awhile.. ~ link (via)

✽ Jan Brewer was lampooned in the NY Times for her embarrassing debate performance. I suspect, though, that it will take more than her poor communication skills to turn the Arizona tide against her. Right now the governor is in some kind of protective bubble with Sheriff Joe Arpaio. No stupid thing either of them does or says seems to negatively affect their ratings. It's pretty bizarre. ~ link

✽ Are "secret believers" living in Muslim and Hindu cultures the same as half-hearted believers in the West? Is it possible to truly believe and not follow? How does your awareness of God's grace affect your answer? ~ link

✽ I think they were having a Joan Baez marathon on the local PBS station yesterday. They've been showing the same documentary all day -- or so it seems. Her's is an interesting story.

Random

✽ The Swedes' quirkiest habits ~ The Local

✽ A New York Times survey suggests that Jan Brewer has a 97% chance of getting elected governor of Arizona. I'd suggest that her chances increase if she stays off TV, forgets debating, and makes no more public statements. That appears to be her strategy. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

✽ I don't know what rock I've been under, but while hunting for all-age child-friendly worship resources this morning I discovered familyworship.org.uk -- a lot of great music with theological and liturgical substance that both adults and kids can use together.

✽ James Choung at Mariner's Church. He comes on about 40 minutes into the video. He's so good at telling the story. ~ link

✽ "Five years, 60 editors and translators, 300,000 words, 370,000 translations: It all adds up to the largest single volume English-Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary ever put together, due to be published Sept. 9 by Oxford University Press." ~ WSJ

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