Random

> JOHN STACKHOUSE: "Why I Am Not Blogging about Rob Bell’s 'Love Wins'” -- Two reasons: (1) "Is he really saying or doing something all that innovative, all that different..." (2) "Lots of other books and people deserve lots more attention." ~ link

> SIGNIFICANT CHANGES in medical education may be on the horizon ~ link

> CNN is reporting that the CIA is operating in Libya. And this is news? ~ CNN

> WELL, ARIZONA does attract some colorful (and sometimes scandalous) characters -- Fiesta Bowl fracas. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

> AND THE POLITICIANS were tied in, too. Follow the money. This could become a mini-series. ~ Arizona Capitol Times

> THE BEST WRITTEN tweet on the Fiesta Bowl scandal comes from Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts -- "Feeding off the Fiesta Bowl (and leaving Arizona with heartburn)" ~ link

> DAVID FITCH:

It seems at one time there was a path to influence within Christendom. Do well in your seminary studies. Practice and become a polished public speaker. Go get a PhD at a premier school and write and think on the highest levels competing against the best. I did none of this BTW so maybe I’m not the one to ask. Yet from my perspective, that world is shrinking. The days of gaining influence from positional achievement in Christendom are (gladly) waning. Today this kind of (Christendom) influence is largely generated in large conference venues. For me, these venues try to sell too much. Again, because Christendom has its problems, I strongly suggest none of us go this route. The best thing for anyone is to put these temptations towards influence aside, and start with the ministry God has given you. Seek faithfulness and allow God to use you in the world. Seek additional education as it seems a natural extension of your life – the life God is working in and through you already. If influence comes, it comes from God and you should submit to it humbly and in service to His Kingdom... ~ And a lot more wisdom

> MOVE BEYOND tourist English ~ BBC

Random

> J.D. PAYNE draws on the research of the Brookings Institute to highlight "5 Changes Influencing Mission in Metro America: A Call for More and Better." They note that the country is: (1) growing quickly, (2) rapidly diversifying so that we are a majority-minority nation, (3) facing a large aging population, (4) selectively educating the population, and (5) dividing by income (including suburbanization of poverty). Do watch the video when you've got 12 minutes. ~ link

> APRIL IS "Table Tennis Month" on Guam -- just thought you needed to know that -- yet another reason to love both Guam and April. ~ link

> IN CASE you haven't been following all the action, this is what the Covenant missionaries in Japan have been up to. ~ link

> I'M SURE that I'm not the first person to figure this out, but if you take a Quaker Chewy Granola Bar -- "Low Fat S'mores" and stick it in the microwave for 10 seconds or so, it's a pretty good substitute for the real thing -- even if you do have to eat it with a fork. Do take it out of the wrapper before cooking, though.

> A COBRA, AWOL from the Bronx Zoo, is now tweeting. And he has over 100,000 followers. You just never know what will capture the imagination of America. ~ BBC

> NOW THE SHERIFF has 30 pilots in his posse who are donating their planes and time to patrol the southern border of Maricopa County. They're looking for illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. You definitely have to give the guy credit for creativity. What other county has a posse with 30 pilots? ~ link

> AT LEAST one of the weather forecasters is predicting 100° for Phoenix on Friday. Another is saying 99°. No foolin'.

> WATCHING SHERWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH, from somewhere in Georgia, on TV. Even Baptist worship ain't what it used to be. There is hope -- although they really need a ukulele or two in the massive worship leadership team/choir/band/orchestra. How can such a huge church miss something so obvious?

> CEB STUDY BIBLE coming in 2013. The CEB has a few quirks and peculiarities but this may be a sleeper translation that tips the Bible scales in America. ~ link

> I DON'T know if there is a verifiable study to back this up, but it seems true -- "On average, it takes 12-20 revelatory events to lead someone to Christ in our day." ~ Steve Sjogren

Random

> INDIA & PAKISTAN are engaged in cricket diplomacy. That's a good sign. ~ WSJ

> I'M READY -- bring on the Sumo oranges. ~ link

> NEW YORK UNIVERSITY is going to establish a degree-granting liberal arts campus in Shanghai. ~ NYT

> TRANSCRIPTION of my sermon from yesterday (Exodus 17:1-7) now online ~ link

Random

> THE MOST incredible tsunami video, yet. After the initial hit it is more like a flash flood than a wave. The water just kept coming and coming. ~ link

> "SCIENTISTS have discovered a new substance called 'metamaterials,' that allows light to bend around an object and re-form on the other side, like a stream around a boulder. 'This is the real McCoy,' Kaku says. 'This is the Harry Potter invisibility cloak.'" ~ NPR

> AND FWIW the language continues to morph ~ link

> LISTENING LIVE to humpback whales off the coast of Maui singing  -- wait, one of them just started playing the uke, too. Cool! ~ link

> INTRO to the baritone ukulele -- rich sound but my tenor has a pretty full sound, too. I think those whales are using a soprano. ~ link

> "OHIO man gets a $16.4 million cable bill" -- that's a LOT of pay per view. ~ link

> GOOGLE before you tweet... ~ link

Random

> JAKE

> BAYSIDE CHURCH is raising $75K for Japanese relief efforts. ~ link

> THE CEB, the Common English Bible translation, is complete as of March 22, 2011 ~ link

> THE FLAT TAX under consideration in Arizona would raise taxes for taxpayers who make under $100,000 a year while those earning above that amount would pay less than what they currently pay. ~ ABC15.com

> ROGER OLSON reviews Rob Bell’s Love Wins -- and he's not too rattled by anything in there. I still want to know how so many evangelicals got so worked up, so quickly, with so little information. ~ link

> LIFE has become better for a lot of people ~ link

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mom!

> THE CANADIAN government has unraveled again -- the joys of parliamentarianism. ~ link

> "MAYBE it's all the church socials, but a new study finds that those who attend religious activities are more likely to gain weight than those who don't go to church as often..." ~ Alice Park in Time

> KENT, OUR #2 son is getting ready to take a quick trip to China so he can renew his South Korean visa and continue taking his Korean class in Seoul. Visa regulations are crazy everywhere.

Random

> DEMONSTRATE your proficency in the language with the free online Alison certificate in English Language and Literature. ~ link

> BEIJING —

China, the world's largest tobacco producer and home to a third of all smokers, has issued a national ban on lighting up in hotels, restaurants and other indoor public spaces, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. 

The rules, which take effect on May 1 and spell out education provisions about the dangers of tobacco, include restrictions on cigarette vending machines and on outdoor smoking that affects pedestrians... ~ NY Times

> YOU CAN'T squeeze water from rocks -- or can you? ~ link

> I RECEIVED a phone call from Ronald Regan yesterday. He was calling on behalf of the Tea Party. Even though they're thoughtless those guys have more power than I thought possible.

All Uke

GREAT sound out of an inexpensive ukulele. See also the tiny Kala pocket uke, which isn't cheap, but looks like a lot of fun. ~ link

And then there is Sungha Jung, the young Korean genius who should give up guitar so he can focus on the uke. ☺
More of I'm Yours by Seenam Zepia in Thailand -- dig the finger shaker

Random

> RESCUED HUMMER


> "ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY student

Tyler Elringham is not what you would call a typical college student. From being homeless at 16 to becoming the leader of a new venture at 20, Eltringham has taken a different route than most. Despite the odds stacked against him, he is coming out on top.


Eltringham is the CEO of OneShot, a startup dedicated to providing meningococcal meningitis vaccinations to college students living in dormitories and university housing... ~ link

> CREATE YOUR OWN annimation on YouTube -- new feature -- but it's not free ~ link

> SALES OF doomsday bunkers up 1,000%. Okay, didn't we already do this personal bomb-shelter thing in the early '60's. When I was in first grade I dug one in my backyard -- but my father made me fill in the hole. We seem to like being in a crisis mode. ~ link

> HOUSEPLANTS purify the air. And they help blur the line between indoors and outdoors. Our house is full of them. ~ WSJ

> THE FED earns record $82B profit that goes into the US Treasury ~ Atlantic

> COVENANT DAY ~ link

> DO BUDDHISTS believe in God? Well, not exactly. They believe in "suffering." ~ link

Random

> TODAY'S FEEL GOOD STORY ~ via> KARL BARTH:

...Such a mature church is the goal toward which the church has to form itself in view of the challenge raised by the demand for self-determination. One way to gauge whether the church is moving in that direction is provided when the sentiment, "I am going to church when I need something for myself" is replaced by the thought, "I am needed there." ~ link (via)

> "SINGLE PASTORS say they face discrimination" ~ link

No doubt, there is some truth in the assertion. However, I would suggest that I'm hearing similar concerns from well-qualified married ministers who have been trying for years to get a professional ministry position. The over-50 set believe that they are discriminated against as churches favor younger people with children and energy. The younger minsters think they get the short-end of the stick because churches think they can get by paying them less. It goes on and on... The fact is that well-paying established positions are fewer and farther between. I see this as an opportunity to both start new ministries and to re-think what "professional" ministry should look like in the current context.

> O NO, King Tut's grandmother had a wart -- on her forehead. ~ link

> YAP STATE should be getting royalties off this. ~ link

> IT TAKES 2,847 gallons of water to make a serving of chocolate; 39,090 gallons of water to make a car; 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make a pair of jeans ~ Huff

> 9,079 DEAD and another 12,645 are still missing as a result of the earthquakes and tsunamis. Fatalities related to the nuclear plant explosion and leaks -- 0. Yet, that seems to get the headlines. I've now seen big stories about harmless trace radiation in LA and Arizona.

Random

> TODAY IS World Water Day ~ link

> FILMING OF THE HOBBIT now underway ~ Yahoo

> I'VE BEEN helping my Ethiopian buddy Amanuel with a resume. He's trying to find job in the Phoenix area. He does landscaping, welding, computer programming, cooking, commercial painting -- and he speaks five languages -- including pretty good English. He's a CAN DO kind of guy. Any leads out there?

> THE ASIAN POPULATION in Las Vegas doubled during the last decade. ~ KJZZ

> THERE ARE NOW 50,000 students earning college credits at 250 "early college high schools." ~ link

> "SIZE MATTERS: small groups fight harder, but lose anyway" ~ link

Random

> AZUREUS RISING -- Some animators had fun putting this together.
> THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC overview piece on the effects of birthright citizenship by Daniel González and Dan Nowicki is fairly even handed and a good effort to add to the discussion in a civil manner. ~ AZ Central

> I SAW Anthony Robles on the national news tonight. Viva Anthony! Viva ASU! ~ link

> "THE BEST THING you need to know for a successful relationship: When you're wrong, admit it. When you're right, shut up." ~ Phil Cooke

> WAS NICODEMUS actually born again? Transcription from my sermon from John 3:1-17 no online ~ link

Random

> WARREN BUFFET on ukulele economics:

> NO, I haven't tried to gobble up one of those new fangled .xxx domain names. ~ link

> NOPE, I'm not at all tempted by this either -- "ASU adds Arizona's 1st bachelor's degree in statistics." ~ link

> FREE ACCESS to the NY Times via Twitter and Google ~ link

> SUPERMOON tonight ~ Huff

> M.A.S.H. is the only re-run on TV which never gets old.

> THE AP STYLEBOOK has finally figured out that email doesn't need a hyphen. ~ link

Random

> ENJOY THE WORDS!
> GEORGE BARNA'S most recent info dump -- how people experience transformation -- the 10-stop journey toward spiritual maturity:

Barna stated, “you can be the Church Lady and yet be no farther along the journey than Richard Dawkins. Simply attending church activities and classes does not guarantee or necessarily enhance one’s transformational experience. Wholeness requires more than simply showing up and gorging on the religious-activities menu.” The study found that some people reach the ultimate stages of wholeness and maturity within just a couple of decades while others failed to achieve such maturity after more than five decades of consistent religious activity and positive intent. ~ link

> CHECK OUT, as well, Barna's article "Experiencing God’s Best through His Transformation Process: Will You Seek to Experience Maximum Faith in Your Life –- or Settle for Comfortable Mediocrity?" ~ link (.pdf)

> "THE TOP 10 sodas in the US, in order of popularity, are: Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Diet Pepsi, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr Pepper and Fanta." Fanta? ~ AZ Central

> ROOSEVELT DAM is 100 years old today. The dam is the linchpin in a system which keeps Phoenix from becoming a dry and dusty desert bowl. ~ EV Trib

> THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS is aiming to develop a $10K BA. ~ link

> I HAVE TO continually remind myself that treating people with more dignity, respect, and kindness than they deserve is always good policy. This is true whether we're talking about obnoxious neighbors, dysfunctional family, pathological criminals, or politicians of any persuasion. It's a Jesus thing.

> THE BOOK OF MORMON now on Broadway. Interesting world in which we live. ~ USA Today

> MY BUDDY Dan Whitmarsh is questioning whether focusing so much attention on Lent is a healthy thing -- given that ultimately the point of the story isn't in groveling but in experiencing new life in Christ. "God wants to throw a party, and we're still fixated on the dirt that's already been washed away." In a sense he's on target. Lent isn't the point.

But Lent is a part of the drama that leads up to the point -- and accentuates the point. I wonder if one of the lessons in the seasonal drama is actually the tension we experience in trying to maintain a lenten character while knowing so well where the story is going. And in fact we've already committed to the ending. Trying to play the lenten role is a struggle that reminds us that we don't naturally live there anymore. There is much to learn in Lent -- including the fact that we are driven by Easter. ~ link

> THE LEGACY OF CARL HENRY -- Hey, I really liked the guy (after all, he gave me an "A" in his theological issues class for some pretty unimpressive writing). It was the first time that I felt comfortable in disagreeing with someone who was obviously a whole lot smarter than me. ~ link

> LaVONNE NEFF is a genius. Her piece "What civil discourse sounds like" should be required reading for anyone engaged in public political parley. ~ link

Happy St Patrick's Day

Random

~ via

> ROGER OLSON'S grandaddy of all his pro-Pietism pieces ~ link

> STARBUCKS in talks to acquire Peet's Coffee ~ link

> WHAT'S YOUR CALLING? My old seminary classmate Bob Cornwall and Martin Marty share their thoughts. Good stuff. ~ link

> "PEOPLE LOVE A PANIC" -- Arizona drug retailer explaining why they've run out of potassium iodide. So true. ~ AZ Central

> "AN INTERNET pedophile ring with up to 70,000 members — thought to be the world's largest —has been uncovered by police, a security official said Wednesday." That's not only an outrageously troubling number but think about how many new prisons we'd have to build if they were all given time behind bars. ~ MSNBC

> JIM AND HYDI PETERSON are giving first hand accounts of life in Tokyo ~ link

> NEW RECORD-High US life expectancy ~ link

> BUSINESS CLOSURES plague Saipan. They've definitely hit a rough patch. ~ link

Random

> HIGH ON COOLNESS -- Flight of the AirJelly -- "Can the jellyfish’s motion through water serve as a propulsion principle for an airborne object?" ~ link

> TSUNAMI SURGES (gently) up Ballona Creek in LA (You might want to turn the speakers OFF for this one.)

~ via

> HOW IS IT that a scientific debate over the existence of climate change has become so clearly partisan? Doesn't anyone in either party make decisions apart from "group think"? ~ link

> "GUAM could become refuge for Japan" -- Yes, more Japanese on the island might fill up empty hotel rooms but the cost to Guam would probably be greater than what is received. This looks like genuine island hospitality to me. They've done this before with other groups of Asian refugees. ~ link

> HOPE IN JAPAN -- I'm proud of these guys. ~ link

> RICH MOUW agrees with Rob Bell, saying that his perspective on heaven and hell is very similar to that of C.S. Lewis.

I told the USA TODAY reporter that Rob Bell’s newly released Love Wins is a fine book and that I basically agree with his theology. I knew that the book was being widely criticized for having crossed the theological bridge from evangelical orthodoxy into universalism. Not true, I told the reporter. Rob Bell is calling us away from a stingy orthodoxy to a generous orthodoxy. 

Let me say it clearly: I am not a universalist. I believe hell as a condition in the afterlife is real, and that it will be occupied. I think Rob believes that too. But he is a creative communicator who likes to prod, and even tease us a bit theologically. Suppose, he likes to say, we go up to someone and tell them that God loves them and sent Jesus to die for their sins. Accept Jesus right now, we say, because if ten minutes from now you die without accepting this offer God will punish you forever in the fires of hell. What kind of God are we presenting to the person? Suppose we told someone that their human father has a wonderful gift for them, offered out of love for them—and then we add that, by the way, if they reject the gift that same father will torment them as long as they live. What would we think of such a father? Good question, I think. 

~ link

Random

~ via

> GOOGLE CLOUD PRINT -- feature in Chrome that allows you to access your printer from anywhere, any computer. So, if you're working from home and you want to send a print job to the office printer you can do so through the cloud. To set it up go to Options -> Under the hood -> Google Cloud Printer at the very bottom of the page.

> WORLD DRINKING WATER crisis infographic (move the cursor over the colored circles) ~ link

> WHY LENT must rise again:

The question goes to the heart of what’s happening to Christianity in America. Practitioners are purging the tradition of its sacrificial dimensions. We’re remaking it as a type of spiritual self-help whose effectiveness is measured by how well it entertains us and affirms what we already believe. Since Americans love parties and hate to do without, Christianity is evolving to deliver. The diminution of Lenten practices illustrates the trend and highlights what’s lost when religion becomes a consumer commodity. ~ G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Boston Globe

> THE COMING split in evangelicalism? Will Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins (being released today) "play a huge part in triggering this split"? I'm not as pessimistic as Jimmy Spencer but he does identify some of the the underlying tensions. ~ link

> NEWT GINGRICH is busy doing public penance -- sort'a. Martin Marty has an interesting take on it all. ~ link

> CONGRATULATIONS ALICE COOPER -- Phoenician and new Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer ~ AZ Central

> PLEASE don't make me do my online teaching through a Facebook app. Facebook is becoming its own proprietary internet -- déjà vu AOL 1991. ~ link

> I'M STILL not sure why I'm fascinated by tsunamis. Maybe it's just an interesting word. Or perhaps it's because their impact can be so widespread. Then again, it might just be because they are a mystery that we're only now beginning to understand.

Very little of the devastation resulting from this earthquake was from the initial shaking. This is partly because of Japan's stringent building codes. But mainly because any damage from the seismic waves that sent skyscrapers in Tokyo swaying was dwarfed by the impact of the 10 metre tsunami that hit the Japanese coast less than an hour later. Although 40% of Japan's coastline is faced with concrete seawalls designed to fend off tsunamis, they proved ineffective in this case: the wave was just too high, and eventually the seawalls were topped. 

The real destructive power of tsunamis lies not in excessive height, but in their wavelength. A normal wave rises, breaks on the beach, and is done within seconds. A tsunami wave rises, breaks, and continues to break for several minutes or more. It is a wave that just keeps on coming…and coming, and if it is higher than beach (or seawall) level, it will encroach inland for kilometres, sweeping all before it. ~ Scientific American (via)

> THERE ARE times when it doesn't make sense to work so much -- a point of diminishing returns. It had been a long day with a lot accomplished and I decided to try to squeeze in some time to read more student assignments last evening. But when Cheryl discovered that I had also left waffles cooking in the waffle iron for over an hour after supper I decided that I probably wasn't fully present -- so I stopped. Totally carbon waffles -- metaphor for my brain on overload. Ya gotta know when to stop!

Random

> THE FABLED LOST CITY OF ATLANTIS has been discovered in a salt marsh in southern Spain -- so researchers believe. ~ BBC

> IS SARAH PALIN moving to Arizona? ~ AZ Central

> THERE WAS a lot of extra traffic on our street yesterday morning as I was loading the church's trailer in my driveway. So I stepped around the corner and saw that the police were diverting traffic off 51st Ave and onto our street because of a crash that sent three people, including two police officers to the hospital. The wreck occurred at 12:20 a.m. and the road was closed until mid-afternoon. ~ AZ Central

> COVENANT WORLD RELIEF is channeling funds through the Japanese Covenant Church. ~ story | donate online

> THE EARTHQUAKE has sped up the earth's rotation and shortened the days. What amazes me is that the people who monitor such things are able to calculate this so quickly. ~ link

> MY SERMON notes on temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) are online ~ link

> WONDERFUL SURPRISE! -- Jon Bredow dropped in on us at MasterPiece yesterday morning. Jon is a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas Arlington and was in Phoenix for a work-related meeting. He and Denise, and their two boys, were a part of our church plant in Bedford, Texas -- some 20 years ago.

> WE'RE AT that stage where six additional adults on a Sunday morning make a world of difference in the dynamic of the whole group. Yesterday morning was great!

> I THOUGHT that the story was about Barackatology. ~ link

> HOW MORMONISM may shape the next presidential election -- "...the possibility of two credible Mormon presidential candidates could create a veritable LDSapalooza." ~ link

> GOOGLE may try to break into social networking again -- this time with a slightly different approach -- "Everything users share on Circles will be shared only with the most appropriate circle of social contacts in their lives, not with all your contacts in bulk." ~ link

Random

> THE TSUNAMI crosses the SF Bay ~ link

> JAPAN -- before and after ~ link

> DID YOU HAVE TO SPRING FORWARD? We don't do that kind of thing in Arizona. And we didn't do it on Guam, either. I'm not missing DST at all.

Random

> WOMEN HOLD MOST of the seats in the Rwandan parliament. ~ The Economist

> CANADA is the heaviest internet-using country. ~ Huff

> HEALTH FOOD -- Coffee drinkers have reduced risk of stroke, gallstones, colon cancer, diabetes, liver disease, and Parkinson's. The researchers aren't specifying brand or grind. ~ Boston Globe

> "CITY, CITY, CITY, yet over half of all Americans live in suburbia. Why are so many church planting/missional discussions one-sided?" ~ Missionalburbs

> "CUBA releases jailed dissident Oscar Elias Biscet" -- hopeful sign. ~ BBC

> THE ENTIRE Common English Bible (both Old and New Testaments) will be released in August. One more tool in the box. ~ link

> THE MOORING lines for two US Navy subs based on Guam broke as the tsunami waves passed by the island. Another disaster barely averted. ~ PNC

> WEDDING BELLS: Shane Claiborne and Katie Jo Brotherton -- May 7TH ~ link

> "IS YOUR COMMUNITY tsunami ready?" ~ CraigatFEMA | link

Frankly, Craig, the answer is no. Phoenix is the most ill-prepared for a tsunami as any city I've ever encountered. Perhaps FEMA could send us a grant to set-up an emergency tsunami alert system and post evacuation signs. You just never know...

Random

> FIRST TSUNAMI picture after wave hits Japan, following 8.9 earthquake. Guam, N Marianas, Hawaii -- are you watching? ~ via

> WOMEN WHO post lots of photos of themselves are craving attention, according to a new study. ~ LA Times

> "FREE MARKET only works when capitalists make profits. When profits are in peril, they want government help..." That seems to be more or less true. ~ Tucson Citizen

> MARICOPA is Arizona's fastest growing city. ~ link

> ARIZONA SB 1538 would ban texting while driving. Don't we already have laws which prohibit doing anything which would distract a driver? Seems redundant. People who ignore the current law will ignore a new law. ~ link

> FORMER DISNEY Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was treated for smoke inhalation, the result of a fire that badly damaged her LA home. ~ link

> MARK GOODACRE is annoyed that Robert Kugler's and Patrick Hartin's, An Introduction to the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009) doesn't even mention the Farrer Hypothesis. Current scholarly consensus (which seems to be deteriorating) says that the New Testament gospels Matthew and Luke drew on the gospel of Mark and another source called "Q" -- and possibly two other independent sources. The Farrer Hypothesis (or theory), of which Goodacre is a major advocate, says that Mark was the first gospel written. Mark then became the source for Matthew's gospel. Then, the Gospel of Luke was written using both Mark and Matthew as a source. ~ link

> AFRICA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY in Kenya, is now fully chartered. The university consists of Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, the Institute for the Study of African Realities, and the School of Professional Studies. ~ link

> HOW TO START a house church ~ link

Für Elise

The original manuscript was lost but I'm fairly certain that Beethoven had the ukulele in mind when he started writing for Elise. It wasn't until some show-off kid with piano fingers got hold of it that it was rearranged for the piano -- losing most of its original simplicity. Fortunately it has been restored to what I'm sure Beethoven had (or should have had) in mind. ~ free uke tabs

Random

> ASH WEDNESDAY -- the first day in Lent. ~ link

> NOW DEBATING the following resolution: "This house believes Japanese 'incremental innovation' is superior to the West's 'disruptive innovation'." This discussion isn't just about the nature of innovation but also about what should be the preferred culture. ~ The Economist

> ELIMINATING DOLLAR BILLS, replacing them with coins, would save US taxpayers $5.5 billion dollars a year. How serious are you about balancing the budget? ~ link

> "WHERE MORE Households Have Guns, the Overall Homicide Rate Goes Up" ~ CHE

> THE COST of orange juice is on the rise. ~ link

> THIS LITTLE AD, running on Facebook, has been generating a lot of interest. Pray that it might translate into some solid connections with people who are interested in living new lives in a new way!

> NOW THAT the southern Sudanese have won their independence will they turn on each other? ~ link

> TIMOTHY KELLER is challenging the idea that revivalism is over. This is quite an insightful article which brings what Mark Noll is saying about the shape of global Christianity into the discussion. ~ link (.pdf) (If you have trouble with the link go to the City to City site.)

> "LETTERS TO the Church: What Jesus might write to churches today -- by Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, and William Willimon" -- Actually I think CT published these a few years ago but they just went online and they still speak. How do you think these should be tweaked for 2011? ~ link

> DAVID FITCH:

I believe that local churches are shaped by theology and practice. We are shaped by what we believe about the gospel, the kingdom and how God reveals Himself and the ways we practice these beliefs together. Yet often we have taught our beliefs and practiced them as the means to differentiate ourselves from those who don’t believe. We learn our theology by who(or what) we are against. And so strangely, we define ourselves over against “the liberals,” or “the gay or lesbian communities” or “those who seek to bring down our culture – the Christian Nation.” We end up separating ourselves from the world making enemies instead of living our lives together for the world in God’s Mission. ~ link

Random

via

> OUR CHURCH is more like In-N-Out than Denny's. ~ link

> IT REALLY wasn't very hard to put the Arizona state budget nearly $1 billion into the black -- without cutting any government or social services, or education. I didn't even have to raise sales taxes. ~ link

> PHOENIX POPULATION increasing -- in spite of the weak economy and foreclosure crisis. We're now the 11th largest city in the US --

As of today Phoenix and its suburbs are home to 4,575,353 people, and the number is on the rise. The next milestone of 4,580,000 is expected to hit March 20. ~ Phoenix Business Journal

> "A FEW possible ways that someone fleeing Libya right now might be granted lawful permission to resettle in the United States." ~ link

> CONGRESSMAN PETER KING:

“There is a real threat to the country from the Muslim community... and the only way to get to the bottom of it is to investigate what is happening.” 

That kind of sweeping statement from a major government official about a religious minority — soon to be backed up by the intimidating aura of Congressional hearings — can only serve to further demonize a group of Americans already being pummeled by bigotry and vicious stereotyping. ~ NY Times

Yes, there are probably some potential threats from within the American Muslim community but we are in even greater danger if we demonize the whole lot and turn everyone into an enemy through this kind of public harassment. If there are threats, they should be dealt with in a low-key and discreet manner -- fairly and individually -- and legally. Can you imagine Congress initiating an investigation of all Baptists in the US because of the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church?

> TIBET IS CLOSED to foreigners this month. I guess I'll have to do spring break elsewhere. ~ Time

Random

> THE ULTIMATE In-N-Out Secret Menu (and Super Secret Menu!) Survival Guide ~ link

> LAST WEEK Scot McKnight had a quick run-down on the major perspectives in the universalism discussion. ~ link

> A RARE original 1611 King James Bible has been discovered in a Wiltshire church building -- sitting on a shelf. ~ BBC

> MY TRANSFIGURATION sermon from yesterday -- transcription ~ link

Do evangelicals hate Jesus?

Sociologist Phil Zuckerman is asking the question -- and floating some explanations...

...The results from a recent poll published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveal what social scientists have known for a long time: White Evangelical Christians are the group least likely to support politicians or policies that reflect the actual teachings of Jesus. It is perhaps one of the strangest, most dumb-founding ironies in contemporary American culture. Evangelical Christians, who most fiercely proclaim to have a personal relationship with Christ, who most confidently declare their belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, who go to church on a regular basis, pray daily, listen to Christian music, and place God and His Only Begotten Son at the center of their lives, are simultaneously the very people most likely to reject his teachings and despise his radical message... ~ Huff

Random

> THE WORLD'S most typical person is...
> WHY ARE we so attracted to toxic leaders? ~ link

> WHY ROGER OLSON feels at home with the British evangelicals (me, too). It has nothing to do with the accent. ~ link

> "A BASIC axiom of all criticism is 'Before saying "I disagree" be sure you can truly say "I understand".'” ~ Roger Olson

> RANDOM RULES for ideas worth spreading -- Okay, church leaders, do a little translation for your context. ~ Seth Godin

> MIROSLAV VOLF: "The two (Yahweh & Allah) are one God, albeit differently understood." ~ link

> COLD FRONT moving in -- high in Phoenix will only be 72° by Tuesday

> DR MARK Thiessen Nation, professor of theology at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, has broken new ground in the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He, and two student authors, are challenging "the long-held assumption that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor, was arrested, imprisoned and executed because of his involvement in plots to assassinate Hitler." Instead, they are arguing in a book to b published next year "that it was Bonhoeffer’s costly discipleship—which led a Nazi official to call him 'a pacifist and enemy of the state'—that led to his arrest, imprisonment and execution." ~ link (via)

> WHICH IS the new Calvinism? “Neo-Puritanism” or “Neo-Calvinism?” The Friends of Kuyper are trying to reclaim their label -- "Piper, Discoll, and Mohler are not 'Neo-Calvinists,' they are actually 'Neo-Puritans.'" I think the fans of Abraham Kuyper (who was an awesome thinker, theologian, and government leader) just need to get used to the fact that their neocalvinism is now the old Neo-Calvinism. It IS a shame that the new Neo-Calvinism isn't more like the old neocalvinism. Not all things new are an improvement. ~ link (via)

> SACRAMENTO just can't catch a break these days. Now the Kings might be moving to OC. ~ link

Random

> A LITTLE GENERIC but on target:
~ via

> BRAD GREENBERG:

An odd headline came to my inbox yesterday: “Pope exonerates Jews for Jesus’ death.” It was from the Associated Press, and I found it odd not that the pope had made clear that Jews did not have Jesus’ blood on their hands. It was odd that this was being reported as news now. ~ link

> CONTINENTAL AIRLINES: No more free pretzels. Yeah, I've been wondering how they were ever going to keep that up. They must be spending at least 8¢ for each bag that they give away for FREE! (How is it that low-cost carriers keep giving away peanuts and pretzels but the higher cost full fare airlines can't afford it?) ~ link

> BETTY FAIRFAX HIGH SCHOOL, just down the street from us, playing with their first senior class this year, won the Boys Basketball 5A-II Arizona state title last night. 65-60 over Chaparral in two OTs. This is the school's fourth year in existence and their first state sports title of any sort. Congratulations!

How long will we tolerate this?

Apparently, Glenn Beck, who has 6.5 million listeners, said on his show a few days ago that, "First Lady Michelle Obama has 43 on her staff while Nancy Reagan had just three."

The reasonably objective (they seem equally willing to go after conservatives and liberals) PolitiFact did some fact checking on this claim and found that, "Michelle Obama has a staff of 25, not 43 as Beck claimed. Nancy Reagan had a staff of about 15 (not three, as Beck claimed). The size of Michelle Obama's staff is similar to that of her immediate predecessors." ~ link

How is it that this personal dislike of the Obamas has become so intense that pundits like Beck feel justified in making up such outrageous claims? Why is it that we tolerate people who try to advance their causes through the presentation of such blatantly false information? If Beck were operating in the realm of anything but politics he'd be arrested for misrepresentation.

Honesty has to count for something!

It's time that the radio stations pull the plugs on pundits who consistently misrepresent verifiable facts about their opponents -- whether they be liberal or conservative. Truth and honesty need to trump dollars. "Better to be poor and honest than a rich person no one can trust." ~ Proverbs 19:1 (MSG)

Random

> THE ULTIMATE Pirate Bedroom ~ link

> THIS SEEMS like a cool local church ministry -- “Little Dresses for Haiti.” Any issues? Does this negatively impact the local Haitian economy in anyway? ~ link

> 100 WAYS to Teach with Twitter ~ link

> "CHINESE LANGUAGE classes growing in popularity in American schools" ~ link

The students say Mandarin Chinese is challenging, but in some ways it is actually easier than Western languages, which have complex grammatical rules, verb conjugations and genders. Verbs in Mandarin, the main Chinese dialect, are not conjugated, and sentence structure is flexible, they said. 

"It's hard in different ways," said Rebecca Curran, a junior. For example, the students learn to read and write using the Chinese alphabet, which adds its own layer of complexity.

> VIRTUAL COLONOSCOPY -- no scope, no sedation ~ Time

> THE TEA PARTY is getting its own license plate design in Arizona. I don't suppose they'd consider changing the slogan to "Differ tastefully!" ~ link

> THE RISE of the 99-cent Kindle e-book ~ CNET

> COVER-UP? Jesus orders disciples to keep quiet after transfiguration incident. Latest BrushStrokes e-letter. ~ link

> WOW, IF even half of this is true it is a scathing indictment of us -- the voters. Is there anything in the following statement that is factually inaccurate?

....We (Arizona voters) elected a governor without a college degree. A treasurer who is a tax scofflaw. An attorney general who is a bankrupt and banned for life from a regulated industry for fraud. A secretary of state who used his influence to get his kids off scot free from serious charges. Over 40 state legislators with no education past the 12th grade. Mostly because the new Southern Strategy of Chuck Coughlin is working just fine here. ~ link

> "EMERGING GENERATION needs to see Jesus as globally relevant in order to see Jesus as personally relevant." ~ link

> SCOT McKNIGHT'S READERS tell jokes with a purpose. ~ link

My favorite:

Luther, Calvin, and Barth have all died and gone to heaven. In successive order, each is given an audience with the Lord. 

Luther walks in and spends several hours with the Lord. He eventually makes his way out and remarks to the others, “Boy, I understand justification so much better now.” 

Calvin then enters the Lord’s house and remains there for several hours. Eventually, he exits and remarks to the others, “Boy, I understand election so much better now.” 

Barth then enters and is inside for a very long time. He’s really in there for a long time. Eventually, God walks out and remarks to the others, “Boy, I have no idea what that guy is even talking about!”

> NEVER TRUST a guy who isn't laughing (at himself).

Random

> OVER THE past few weeks I've added six or seven new citrus trees to the backyard orchard -- another key lime, lisbon lemon, ruby red grapefruit, cara cara navel, Indio mandarinquat (which is already fruiting!), bearss lime, and a seedless kishu. I think we now have over 30 citrus trees. Don't worry, they're almost all on C-35 dwarf stock so they're small trees (full size fruit) -- bushes really -- and won't take over. I also planted a goji berry bush. In Phoenix if you don't get it in the ground now it won't have time to get established before the heat arrives in a few weeks.

> THE US has a higher obesity rate than Canada. See, another two things we do better than our Canadian cousins -- eat and loaf! ~ link

> MARK GALLI & DAVID NEFF give an overview of the hell debate. ISTM, that part of the problem with this issue is that it is so nuanced and not-so-linear that it can be cleany laid out on a single dimensional spectrum. ~ CT

> HERE IS HOW I'm inclined to approach the hell issue -- with this question: Which would be a worse hell -- God forcing his love on someone who rejects him or intentionally living apart from a God you loathe?

> "AFTER A LENGTHY review, federal officials concluded there are no breeding populations of (Eastern) cougars – also known as pumas, panthers, mountain lions and catamounts – in the eastern United States. Researchers believe the eastern cougar subspecies has probably been extinct since the 1930s." ~ Huff

> RUDY CARRASCO: "US-born English-dominant Latinos are being overlooked in the distribution of the church's attention & resources." No surprise, Rudy. You're not alone. Every group of second and third generation immigrants has had tension with those who still function out of the original cultural paradigm. ~ link

> REFLECTIONS ON six megathemes -- I certainly don't agree with all of the responses to the megathemes identified by Barna, but they're thoughtful fodder. ~ link

> ROBERT LOGAN'S new website Journey Together Now offers some great discipleship resources for those functioning out of a missional context. They're build around the three themes -- comunity, mission, communion.

Random

> TODAY IS "National Pancake Day" and they're giving them away at IHOP. I think they're trying to promote the week before Shrove Tuesday (March 6th this year) as a pancake week. ~ link

> WILL KINDLES soon be free? ~ link

> THE SAN FRANCISCO Public Utilities Commission has been encouraging consumers to adopt low-flow toilets. Now they have sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes -- and stench in some places. ~ link

> THE PHOENIX Police Department has admitted to inflating kidnapping statistics for 2008. ~ link

> HAVE YOU painted your grass yet? (In a couple of months it will all green up naturally.) ~ link

> THE PHOENIX bottled water drive starts today. ~ link

> IT WOULD BE SILLY to condemn Rob Bell's comments about his new book. I'm still not sure what he's saying. ~ link

> 19 DAYS until the Arizona City Fest with Luis Palau begins. ~ link

> "BAJA ARIZONA is a 'state of mind.'" ~ link

> SOME PEOPLE tweet like it's their full-time job. The Ecumenical Patriarch balances them out. ~ link

> INCREASINGLY, in spite of legal protections, church buildings are being zoned out. Communities don't want them in commercial districts because that negatively affects the tax base. Neighborhoods don't want them because they "disturb their peace." ~ link