Guam corruption report

It sounds like the US government is starting to lay the groundwork for some kind of federal take-over of Guam -- or at the very least they are rattling the sabers. They have just produced a scathing report on the effects of corruption and nepotism on the island. The report suggests that things are so bad that Guam is to the point of being a national security threat.

Many of the locals see the report as one more indicator of Uncle Sam's anti-Guam attitude. The US government controls a major portion of the island (about 30%), most of which is used for military operations. Many Chamorro families feel that the US stole their land from them. The US retorts that there was major compensation paid to the people of Guam through a system of reparations that GovGuam is supposed to administer. But because the local government is so corrupt the money and resources never seem to make to the people.

Actually, there are quite a few locals who see corruption as being the real source of the problem -- although they also contend that the federal government should throw more money this direction to fix the problem. Publicly they would oppose any kind of federal take-over but privately I suspect they would welcome change imposed from the outside because no one local would lose face or disrupt family loyalties by having to fire people.

I haven't been here long enough to have it all figured out but that's my sense of what's going on. The whole thing is complicated because culturally there is a certain level of family and clan obligation that goes with having a position of authority. If you get power you are supposed to share it with your family (even if you can't stand your family members you are under obligation of some sort. Sharing is a high value.). Of course, this is in tension with American democratic ideals. So Guamanians are not only trying to deal with corruption but they also have to straddle between two (maybe more) cultures and all the expectations that go with each. It's not an easy spot to be in.

Random

~ Church planters shifting focus from big to reproductive. I've never been terribly successful at leading either -- although a reproducing church has always been more of my focus and priority.

~ Melissa, our dean of women, got her crashed-computer back. The data was recovered, they were able to reformat the harddrive, and it only cost $68. A nice thing about Guam is that services tend to be reasonably priced. It's when you have to get parts for something that you're in trouble.

~ I think Hollie, our PIBC ministries coordinator, caught a military flight out today (I haven't heard that she didn't make it). She's trying to get stateside so she can visit family and then she will be at Biola this summer starting her masters degree in cross-cultural ministry. That's a good way to redeem the time while her husband Aaron is in Kuwait/Iraq flying one of the Navy's medevac copters.

~ The San Francisco Bay Area is experiencing traffic hell after a gasoline tanker exploded right at the point where connector ramps merge Interstates 80, 580, and 880 ("the Maze") -- just as you're heading on toward the Bay Bridge. The driver, with second degree burns, walked away but the freeways melted and collapsed. There was a similar fire at nearly the same spot in 1995 and it's where the freeway collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Is it any wonder that Bay Area drivers are so stressed?

~ The term "servant leaders," popular in the 80s, seemed to slip out of vogue sometime in the 90s. But it's back! And that's a good thing.

Random

~ PIBC colleagues Ned & Marisol Farnsworth have started a blog.

~ Bookmark: WordPress theme generators. (I do some blog work for others using WordPress, but if I have a choice I'll take Blogger any day. Maybe the theme generator will help think better of WordPress.)

~ For uke fans -- "Let's Dance"

Robert Webber

Robert Webber, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer, joined the church triumphant on Friday.

Bob, a professor at Wheaton and then Northern Baptist Seminary, was a leader in worship studies. I heard him speak numerous times as he was a frequent presenter at our Covenant Midwinter conferences. I've probably got more Webber pages in my library than any other contemporary writer.

In recent years Bob and Joanne have been a part of Harbert Community Church, an Evangelical Covenant Church in Harbert, Michigan.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

As seen on TV

Yes, we know that PIBC was featured on The Colbert Report the other night. Of course, I can't actually comment on the show because of our pending litigation against Comedy Central and Stephen Colbert (who thinks that Guam is in the South Pacific).

However, we came out looking a lot better than Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo. Apparently, no one bothered to tell her about the Colbert Report. It appears that she thought that she was being interviewed by a television journalist.



Yeah, we're just kidding about the litigation thing. We all thought it was funny.

Random

~ Tom Wright makes a case for penal substitutionary atonement without all of the extreme caricatures. I'm sure the discussion will continue. It's been going on for a few thousand years.

~ We went snorkeling this morning.

~ I came across a website with beautiful photos of Guam. Somehow the photographer shot around the piles of trash, unkempt buildings, and abandoned boonie cars. This is Guam at its best. It is a beautiful place -- from the right angle.

~ Windows Vista compared to Ubuntu version of Linux -- "Ubuntu's best strength is handling the ordinary task-based day-to-day stuff. Vista has a level of completeness and polish that some people find it hard to do without."

"Some people"?

They should say "most people." As much as I like Ubuntu and enjoy working with it when I can, I think the assessors were being generous. It's getting closer but Linux still has a way to go for the ordinary user -- and that's who it's about.

Random

~ Mission Springs Conference Center, where I worked for four summers, where Cheryl and I were married, and where we have spent countless hours relaxing, is having a bit of a crisis -- the only bridge onto the grounds has been condemned -- a new one will cost $1.6 million. Ouch! More details.

~ Our friend Daisy Ho, who happens to be Cheryl's boss for her 15-hour-per-week job as secretary at the Guam United Methodist Church, is leaving the island soon. She is about to become the associate pastor at the United Methodist Church of Garden Grove. Daisy grew up in Hong Kong but went to school at Biola and Fuller. So she is going back to her old SoCal stompin' grounds -- which she is excited about. But we'll miss her.

~ Dell is releasing a laptop with the option of replacing the hard-drive with a flash drive. The 21st century has arrived.

~ The $100 laptop just went up $75 -- rapidly inching closer to the $399.99 laptops at CompUSA -- although the $175 machine designed for children in developing countries has cool features like really low electricity consumption, a pulley for hand-generated power, and a screen with indoor and outdoor reading modes -- and it's Shrek green.

~ Speaking of whom, Shrek the Third is scheduled for theater release on May 18th. Let's see, that's three days after PIBC graduation -- what a week of celebrations.

~ Easter resurrection story from Ireland. Man pronounced dead but morgue staff notices breathing.

~ This Sunday is "Internet Evangelism Day" -- Oh, brother... We should take up a special offering... and...

I better hit the publish button before I get too snarky.

Seminary scholarships

I got the news this morning that North Park Theological Seminary has become an approved participant in the the Kern Family Foundation scholarship program. These scholarships provide for full tuition and other benefits for up to five students a year. Even though the school is the denominational seminary of the Evangelical Covenant Church students don't have to be "Covenant."

This is really exciting and will open more doors for potential students. North Park already has a really generous presidential scholarship program (full tuition). Then there are the diversity scholarships, which I think are full tuition, too. These are incredible gifts to the church.

A few years ago we were struggling because so many people were coming out of seminary with so much debt (seminary is really expensive -- $425/unit, full load is about 15 units a semester = $12,750 year x 3 years for an MDiv = $38,250 for seminary tuition -- and there are other expenses, too). But so many people have stepped up to the plate that it has become very realistic to finish school with no debt whatsoever. This allows more graduates to serve in places where there just isn't a lot of money available. The church is the real beneficiary of these scholarships.

North Park is on my short list of great places to go to seminary, even for non-Covenant students, and not just because of the scholarship opportunities. They've got a solid faculty, they're academically rigorous but ministry oriented, and Chicago is a world class city where you rub shoulders with people from hundreds of cultures on a daily basis. This new scholarship just makes the school all the more inviting.

They have about 160 students -- the largest the school has ever been.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Fuller Seminary graduate -- but I did the final year of my MDiv studies at North Park -- back in the Middle Ages. It was a good school back then. It's a really good school now.

Random

~ Hispanic immigrants are reshaping the Roman Catholic Church in the US (and are leaving their imprint in other churches as well) with an emphasis on the so-called charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, and prophesying.

~ Physicians in the UK are frustrated by low wages and lack of opportunity. Communities in Australia and the US are starting to drool.

Random

~ They've discovered kryptonite in a Serbian mine. That's good. Serbia could use a super boost about now.

~ Daylight Savings Time -- the source of global warming? Obviously not. We don't do DST on Guam and it's been hot here as long as anyone can remember.

~ Another quirky Homeland Security story: Canadian psychotherapist/researcher who used LSD under supervision in the 70's has been banned from entering the US. The border guard googled his name and came up with the academic article he wrote about his LSD experiences. That was enough to get him labeled as a druggie and turned away at the border. (via)

There has got to be more to the story. It sounds too ridiculous to be complete.

~ The first section of wall is up on the Guam Home Depot.

~ While other people were drooling over Apples my dream machine in the early 90's was an Amiga. It's still possible that I might get one -- someday. There are people working hard to keep the dream alive.

If only -- Maranatha!

I don't really want to hear another person say, "IF ONLY someone had been reaching out to Seung-Hui Cho this wouldn't have happened."

The fact is that there WERE people trying to reach out to him. Some Campus Crusade for Christ students had been attempting a relationship. Some other Korean students had tried. But the fact is that sometimes things aren't simple.

If you have had the experience of dealing with people in deep depression you realize that they don't always respond -- or they respond by pushing you away. Often they feel that no one cares and that no one is there for them. You could be spending 25 hours a day listening to them talk about their problems but in their minds no one cares. Sometimes they'll even try to dump a load of guilt on their best care givers because they "don't care" -- when the fact is that it is often impossible to care enough to make them happy. The nature of depression is that the care receptors get crossed up and a part of the brain isn't getting the care signal -- no matter how strong it is.

Could we have done better -- probably. We usually can. But it's not fair to those who had off and on been reaching out to Cho to suggest that nothing was being done. Even with years of professional training and experience it's still a bit of a crap shoot when dealing with deep-seated depression. And if there are other mental illnesses involved it's even more of a long shot. Cho had received psychiatric care.

We live in a fallen world which will at some point experience the wonder of full healing. But we aren't there -- quite yet. As the early Christians used to say in this kind of situation -- "Maranatha! Come Lord, Jesus." There are times when that is the only thing we can say.

My green website

First Wal-Mart went green. Then Home Depot got into it. Now we're hearing that the green-web-portal wars are about to begin. I think that I should point out that my website has been green since 1995. It's my favorite color. I admit that I've changed shades of green off and on over the years but green has always been my primary color. I just don't want anyone thinking that I'm jumping on the fad train.

Random

~ Tylenol (or its active ingredient acetaminophen) may be the cure for Guam's Brown Tree Snake problem. Don't look for a quick fix, though. It could be a little while before they've worked out all the kinks on this one. See also paracetamol article on Wikipedia.

~ The world's most and least corrupt countries. We've slipped a little. Or is it that others have improved considerably?

~ It's been a rough day for Melissa. First her hard-drive crashed and then some neighborhood kids came by to claim the puppy she had become attached to.

~ We had our own little crisis -- a little fender bender which collapsed the front end of our car. No one was hurt. We'll drive it down to the body shop tomorrow to get an estimate.

~ Improving sidewalks by replacing concrete with recycled rubber. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

~ Bookmark: Ustream.tv -- broadcast events for free using a regular webcam -- sort'a works -- room for improvement. Well, it is in beta.

~ Moving beyond podcasts: multimedia and the academic experience -- educators are learning fast what works and what doesn't.

~ Richard Mouw on "warrior monks" -- military chaplains -- my sentiments, exactly.

~ The Simple Church people in the UK are trying to spin things optimistically but at this point their progress doesn't sound all that encouraging to me. The simple church concept sounds great -- on paper. But once they're done with all of the trial and error I suspect they'll be a lot more "conventional" than they are currently comfortable with. There are reasons why things "evolved" the way they did -- some not so good -- but some are solid.

~ The Virginia Tech massacre -- from the perspective of Asian-Americans. Pastor Eugene Cho from Seattle's Quest Church / Dr Bo Lim from Seattle Pacific University (on Eugene's blog). They both deal with the shame and sorrow that they feel as Korean-Americans (a concept which individualists rooted in traditional American culture don't quite understand). I think I understand a little of it because I know that I feel pride to have these articulate and sensitive men as brothers.

~ Interesting story on how Facebook played a vital communication role in the aftermath of the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

~ Heroes, the only show I'm following this season, is back on (finally!). I just watched episode 19 on the web. The plot thickens and the characters continue to develop. Did you know that there are only 39 minutes of actual show for a 60 minute episode?

A Christian Manifesto...

A few years ago Lloyd Ahlem gave me permission to post this on my website. Every now and then I get email from someone who has read it. I suspect Lloyd does, too, although I'm not sure he remembers that I've posted it online. Anyway, something I read today reminded me of it and I thought it might be worth reposting.

-- Brad

- - - -

A Christian manifesto
for people who aren’t great theologians

by Lloyd Ahlem

God is in charge of everything. He designed it all, made it all, and will end it all. How he goes about it is curiously captivating to consider. You can get some fancy college and seminary degrees trying to figure it all out.

God thinks he is self-evident. He is not too worried about your proving whether or not he exists. Simple people can find out a lot about him without much mental hassle. Brainy folks have to be more childlike.

God loves people. He turned himself into a man so he could be like you. He gurgled through babyhood, colic, and wet pants. He squirmed through adolescence, emerged into strong manhood, and into full divinity. He is the strangest combination of qualities you have ever heard of. He is called Jesus, and he will not fit any of your notions of what God ought to be like.

Through the years people who yearned for him and began to understand him wrote down what they learned about him. They used their own words and descriptions as best they could. They did very well for they still tell us about him today. Their thoughts are true and full of hope. Some people like to argue about the words, but their fussing is not important. The plain stuff will compel you more than you expect. If you don't think so start with the Gospel of John, then the Gospel of Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles. They are easy to find in the index of your Bible.

God knows you screw up your life and make a lot of booboos. Knowing you could hardly do otherwise, he decided to forgive you before you even started being so awfully normal. That way the heat is off you and on him. No use keeping score in a game where the results don't count. You can forget about feeling guilty for all your nonsense unless you decide to be your own god and fix everything yourself. Some people try to do this and they get very tired; tired of themselves and tired of never succeeding at setting things straight. There is always somebody to apologize to, some stupid act to rationalize, or some dumb mistake that cannot be corrected. In time you will not care or your conscience will be so beaten up you won't feel either pain or joy. Fortunately, Jesus paid all our moral and spiritual bills. You don't have to contribute a thing-just accept the gift. This is true even if you have done something hideous.

Since God has no memory of your klutzy deeds and lusty motives, he likes what he sees in you. He enjoys your company. He laughs and sings and dances when you come around. He is like a father who wants to do more for his kids than they can imagine. He tries not to be too indulgent because they might get spoiled. So you may not get everything your heart desires.

God is not half as hard on you as people are. He loves you so much he will forgive stuff most religious people would like to hold you accountable for. Do not worry about these people. They can't take away the gift. In fact, a lot them haven't accepted the gift themselves. That's why they are so pious and cranky. Try copying God when it comes to forgiving yourself. You are probably tougher on yourself than he is.

God will give your life direction and meaning. Just start doing the things that show love to people and let God put all you do into a personal mission. By loving and serving you will discover your abilities and God will expand your opportunities. A lot of books have been written about special secret and mysterious ways to dig out what God has in mind for people. Most of these can be ignored. Just read the New Testament. Then do the things that are obvious to do.

Sing a lot, love even more, worship joyfully, hope strenuously, and remember God must have a sense of humor to make the likes of you. He always has a surprise when he moves you along in your life. He is never completely predictable. He loves to put quirks in your plans just for the fun of it. Accept the fact with cheer for he has final plans you can scarcely imagine.

Someday those people who decided to be their own god will get to live with themselves forever; totally alone, unloved, bitter, hopeless, remembering what might have been. The place is called hell and the door will likely be locked from the inside, for this is what they are used to doing. You, on the other hand, are invited to live in his mansion. Living with God will be so fulfilling you will be tickled you dumped all the other options. No death, no tears, no grief, no suffering. Hooray!

- - - - - - - -

Lloyd Ahlem, EdD, is a retired psychologist, professor, college and seminary president, retirement community administrator, and businessman. He is a member of Cornerstone Covenant Church, Turlock, California. An earlier version of this article originally appeared in the Covenant Companion.

Random

~ There is serious talk of building a 64-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait to connect Far East Russia with Alaska -- Europe and Asia with North America. Projected cost -- about $1 billion (US) per mile.

~ They've started construction on a bio-fuel plant in PNG. That's exactly what we need on Guam. We've got the raw material and the market. We need entrepreneurs.

Free light bulbs

Home Depot gave away 1,000,000 free energy saving light bulbs yesterday -- "Earth Day." If you live on the west coast of the US my yesterday is still your today and Home Depot is still open. Whether they have any left -- I don't know. Will their next step be to change their color scheme from orange to green?

Random

~ There are so many Internet interruptions on Guam that I decided I need to keep a local file of all my gmail (that way I can at least refer to my old emails when the system is down). In the past I've used the Eudora email client -- which I love. But they're going through a lot of change right now. So I decided to download Mozilla's new Thunderbird 2. Wow, very powerful. It was so easy to set-up with gmail that I kept thinking I hadn't jumped through enough hoops. It was way too easy. If they had better shortcuts for creating filters I'd be 100% satisfied. Even with that shortcoming it's a great client. I'm 99% satisfied.

~ So, I found this Rescue From Gilligan's Island DVD in the bargain stack at Kmart. They just don't make movies like they used to. That's probably a good thing. But if anyone wants to come over I'd be glad to watch it again.

~ The Government of Guam is still working on processing tax returns for the year 2004. Those who are expecting a return for 2006 may have to wait awhile. The best way to deal with this ongoing problem is, if you have a return due, simply apply that amount to the next year's taxes and adjust current withholding accordingly.

~ Worth a look: Dan Clendenin's introduction to the Book of Revelation.

~ Ferrell Naputi, a friend from the Methodist Church, invited Cheryl and me to his family's fiesta down in the Village of Merizo this afternoon. The Chamorros are not only very hospitable but they can cook, too! As an addition to their spread Cheryl brought some of her triple-fudge brownies -- which seemed to be a hit. At least they all disappeared fairly rapidly.

Random

~ The US government can and should do something about global warming -- but it shouldn't be at a cost to its citizens, according to poll results released this week. Sounds like the old "We want more service at less cost" routine. We're so silly.

~ Yes there is life after the pageant. Miss America (1944) is in the news again after she used a .38 caliber handgun to shoot out the tires of an intruder on her farm -- while balancing on her walker. At least she didn't miss and shoot the intruder -- or herself.

~ LarkNews.com is reporting that eHarmony for Kids has gone nationwide. Do consider the source before rushing out to sign your child up for a potential mate.

~ To be taken much more seriously is Don Johnson reporting on what Covenant pastors want.

~ Rick Mansfield is looking for the source of this somewhat esoteric theology joke:
Two Dispensationalists walk into an Amillennial bar. The bartender looks up and says, "What? You guys are still here?"

~ Google's newest thing -- web history -- keeps a record of where you've been surfing. Hmmm... If you keep the record someone someday will find a reason to subpoena it.

What? Me -- paranoid?

~ Now they're telling us that the notion that women use more words than men is a complete fabrication. But what about all those studies reported in the textbooks? I guess you just can't believe everything you read -- even in college. (Which, of course, is one of the first things you learn in college.)

Random

~ Crocs are creating static in a Swedish hospital and have been banned! Bummer. Nurses and others who work on their feet all day swear by them.

~ Canadian John Stackhouse, from Regent College in Vancouver, muses on the emergence of a "non-right-wing" evangelicalism in America, and the ruckus that has caused. I think he's rolling his eyes a bit -- and rightfully so.

~ Every tragedy has a secondary impact. For example, 9-11 further isolated the US from the rest of the world -- making our country very visitor-unfriendly. The VT tragedy, since the shooter was from Korea, will further feed the xenophobia. But it will also make people even more suspicious of others, regardless of where they're from, who are quirky (technical psychological term) and who don't socialize well -- which will further feed their quirkiness.

~ Helping to treat victims of the earthquake and tsunami in the Solomon Islands are physicians from Australia, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan.

~ What do we do if all the judges on the island have to recuse themselves from hearing a case because they're all closely related to people involved with the case. This would be one of those OOG ("Only On Guam") situations where 40% of the population (the portion of the population which controls the political system) is all related. Interesting conundrum.

~ Ted Haggard is moving to Phoenix and intends to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. That's a good thing. The people who feel they've been helped by counseling are often the most enthusiastic about becoming counselors themselves.

~ Among today's successes -- I caught up on all my grading AND got everything out of the Gmail "in" box -- all in the same day.

~ 7 @ 7 -- church seven days a week @ 7 p.m. What else do you do when you keep running out of room?

~ Consumers want XP back -- so Dell is again offering it as an option. I'm running Vista on this machine, and while it's not perfect, Vista has been a lot less problematic than the XP which I have running on several of the machines with which I work. I don't get it.

~ There was a new release of Ubuntu yesterday.

~ The Chinese have made the world's first artificial snow fall. Sick. Very sick people.

~ We're running out of Sundays. This Sunday is "Creation Sunday" and "Crime Victims' Sunday" and "Family and Friends Sunday" and... I suspect that if we'd get away from being "issue" oriented and refocused on the gospel itself -- the issues would get addressed with a lot more enthusiasm.

~ BTW, the gospel text for this Sunday is John 21:1-19.

Random

~ Google map which shows which illness are active in your area. Interesting idea. It assumes, of course, that people are going to feel healthy enough to go online and report their symptoms to the world. It kind of all looks the same to me. Most areas of the US are experiencing runny noses, coughs, and muscle aches. Sounds like the flu. Take 500 mgs of acetaminophen, drink plenty of liquids, get lots of rest, and redeem the time by playing with one of Google's new applications. You'll feel better in the morning.

~ Google is going to be adding a presentation program to its application suite. Don't expect as many bells and whistles as PowerPoint. But maybe that's good for most users.

~ They've converted the trains at Disneyland over to biodiesel -- 98% soybean oil, 2% diesel. Now it's not only the happiest place on earth but perhaps soon the greenest?

Disneyland is going green. Wal-Mart is going green. Perhaps business is figuring out that clean is ultimately more profitable.

~ Preach it David. You preach it! And all the small church pastors will rise up and call you blessed.

Random

~ The snake population on Guam is now down to 20 per acre -- half of what it was in the 1980's. The Brown Tree Snake eradication program has received a new funding source.

~ Arizona State University, the source of my undergrad degree, has started a "School of Sustainability." I can't imagine a better workshop than the Phoenix area -- it's deadly hot, water is always an issue, the air has become terribly polluted, and people continue to move there. I'd love to live there again someday.

~ Our PIBC colleagues Steve & Anne Stinnette have a new blog.

~ We have more of our mission colleagues listed on our Guam.Boydston.us blog -- left column -- under title "Mission Friends." Also new on that list are Alberto & Lisa Zepeda, who are working in Kenya. Not new on the list but an active blogger is Andy Larsen, who works with immigrants in Spain, a part of the Covenant's Mosaics Project.

~ What if the Beatles had been Irish. YouTube video of Roy Zimmerman -- 4 funny minutes. (via)

~ CBS has signed a deal with Joost to make their reruns available online for free. There is no indication as to how far back they're going to go into the archives. I suspect not far.

~ The votes have been counted. Interbay Covenant Church (60+-year-old congregation) and Quest (a 6-year-old emerging style congregation) are going to merge. The Quest people seem to be quite aware of what they've just been handed in terms of resources (human and otherwise). They'll now be more than multi-ethnic -- but multi-generational, as well.

~ Bookmark: MakeInternetTV.org -- steps to producing your own television show.

~ Da Vinci Code II? Didn't the first movie more or less bomb?

~ Seven in 10 charities raised more money in 2006 than the previous year -- overall no single technique seemed less effective than others. It's just another Boomer phase.

Tragedy

We all woke up this morning to the news of the Virginia Tech massacre on the mainland. Distance didn't seem to make it easier. (Steve Stinnette, our Guam campus director, is a Hokie.) There is really nothing to say that doesn't sound trite.

The fact is, though, that while we all sorrow at some level, we're not shocked.

Tragically school disasters are not new in America. The worst occurred in 1927. We've lived through wars, November 22, 1963, Austin in 1966, 9-11, and Columbine. And these are just some American tragedies. We've been spared what a good portion of the world goes through daily. And there is certainly more to come.

We live in a broken world with real evil. This is the current reality. We're used to it -- more or less numb to it -- until it again hits close to home.

Christians deal with it by reminding themselves of a coming meta-reality -- a reality which is and will be just as real -- if not more so -- than the current pain of murder.

"I saw Heaven and earth new-created." Revelation 21:1 (The Message)

Random

~ Dan Whitmarsh has made the move from Xanga to Blogger. That's one more read which I can do through Google Reader.

~ Action packed thriller of a church website (via) It's the intro that you don't want to miss. I know nothing about the church but I suspect that the webmaster's other job is designing movie trailers.

~ The Dallas Morning News has reversed its editorial support of the death penalty. "...we believe the state of Texas should abandon the death penalty -- because we cannot reconcile the fact that it is both imperfect and irreversible."

Military build-up on Guam

The US military build-up on Guam has to do with buffering the conflict between China and Taiwan, according to a visiting admiral.

I wonder if the political and military saber rattling is the reason why China is so hesitant to allow their people direct access to the island as a tourist destination.

Many of Guam's problems are the result of local mismanagement and corruption. But a lot of what happens here is the result of forces beyond local control. Because of political tensions we don't get many tourists from the Chinese mainland.

We will, however, get 18,000 Marines and their dependents who are being moved to Guam from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa (easing political tension with Japan).

The US Air Force and Navy have been increasing their presence on Guam for several years -- moving in submarines, F-15 fighter jets, B-2 stealth bombers (in addition to the B-52 bombers already here). They're getting ready to break ground on a $52 million complex that will house unmanned Global Hawk spy planes. And this is just the activity that they're doing publicly.

There is a lot going on here that is beyond local control. If the locals are flexible enough and astute enough they can take advantage of the activity that is coming this way. There should be some trade-off for all they have to put up with.

Smelling the tropics

Cheryl doesn't normally have a sense of smell -- literally. Allergies, which she already gets medicine for, swell the area around her smell receptors. There are times, though, when she inexplicably temporarily regains a sense of smell.

A few weeks ago in our small group we prayed that Cheryl would be able to smell Guam -- which she has never been able to do. On her walk this morning her sense of smell started to return and today she is smelling the tropics for the first time. Praise the Lord.

It's not fully there, yet. For some reason she can't smell the plumerias, which have a strong sweet scent. Hopefully that will come, too.

Random

~ One of the local McDonald's restaurants is running a special on chocolate chip cookies -- 40 cents each OR 3 for $1.25. I wonder how much they penalize you for buying four.

~ Be One, an interesting house church movement in Japan, has a new website. Some English -- mostly Japanese. Pictures transcend language.

~ Kalvin Assito, one of my preaching students, preached during worship at the Lutheran Church of Guam this morning -- did a great job. That was a first for me -- seeing one of my students preach in an actual worship setting outside of the school context. Kalvin is one of two PIBC interns in the congregation. We're so grateful to the congregation and Pastor Jeff Johnson for the way that he takes these guys under his wings.

~ "We are living in the most peaceful time in history."

~ Randall is right Neave Imagination is fun.

~ Radiation from cell phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing them from finding their way home -- wiping out hives -- and ultimately leading to reduction in agricultural output because farmers rely on bees to pollinate their crops -- leading to economic collapse and the end of the world as we know it. More proof that mobile phones are of the devil.

Random

~ Jerry Falwell is asking, "Is the culture overpowering our churches?" ISTM, that the culture overpowered the churches a long time ago when we began to confuse American patriotism and civil religion with Christianity. That's much more dangerous than any cultural movement that disses the faith.

~ Global air pollution -- as seen from above.

~ Just when you think you've got everyone pegged -- Evel Knievel gave his testimony at the Crystal Cathedral, resulting in a spontaneous altar call and baptismal service -- 500-800 made commitments to Christ. After the testimony it was all outside the normally tightly scripted order of service. I wonder if they ever got around to taking the offering.

~ Also outside the box, there is a 40-Day Tent Revival in downtown Dallas that is stirring things up. Apparently the Holy Spirit never got the memo about tent revivals being out of vogue.

Random

~ "Lack of sleep can impair a person’s ability to make moral decisions." Finally, scientific justification for an immoral sluggardly life.

~ Keith Drury on the finer points of the Wesleyan understanding of sin -- and "sinless perfection" What do you think? Will the bucket hold water?

Smile and heap burning coals

Excessive friendliness is the key to unnerving bank robbers -- many of whom give up on their criminal plans. The FBI's latest strategy reminds me of Proverbs 25:21-22 -- "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you."

Or how about Luke 6:35 -- "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

Can you imagine what might happen if we applied this radical approach on a meta level in the Middle East?

On Guard!

While we're busy out here in the middle of the Pacific it is reassuring to know that our possessions, stored in our cargo container at a secret site outside Denair, California, are under the watchful eye of crack security forces -- Evan, Danika, Jared.

If they get tired of their post in front of our container, which is stored at their parent's ranch, they could probably get a job on Guam, where nearly everyone who is not somehow employed by a government entity works as a security guard -- although most out here are unarmed guards. (Even off duty police officers don't seem to carry guns.)

Random

~ Century old fish caught in Alaskan waters.

~ In spite of all the nonsense going on around the globe, the world economy will still be growing at nearly 5% this year. This suggests that there are growing opportunities for the poor. And that's the good news in the numbers.

~ Sometime today my gmail box went over the 1 gig mark. I'm now at 35%.

~ The Kodak rant (apparently a commercial produced for intra-company amusement, which has found its way onto YouTube) reminds me of the I Am a Canadian ads that Molson did a few years ago -- uses an irreverent rant to stir up latent emotions of loyalty. (via)

~ Palm is going Linux. I suspect this means that they're sucking air and grabbing onto whatever they can to survive. Will PDA's have been around long enough to make it into the history books?

~ Career opportunity -- Between 50% and 70% of the executive directors of non-profit organizations plan to retire or leave by 2010. And there isn't anyone waiting in the wings. (via)

~ MySpace has been blocking content from competitors. After seeing how MySpace has taken over our campus computers, littering the hard-drives and desktops with trash -- and some of the stuff that goes with it -- I'm already pretty annoyed with them these days.

~ Diabetics (type 1) cured by stem-cell treatment

~ Bookmark: Speed-up the disk defrag process

~ It's still dry season on Guam and there have been lots of jungle fires on the island -- smoke all over the place. Somebody needs to put Smokey the Bear on a plane and get him over here. Remember friends, ONLY YOU can prevent boonie fires!

~ My Chinese classical music station, KGCA-LP (106.9) in Tumon, had been off the air for a week. But it was back on today when I went over to the west side of the island. It sounds even stronger than it was. Perhaps the conditions were just different or maybe they made some technical adjustments. It's just nice to have them back.

~ I was in Tamuning this afternoon so that I could deliver a $133,000 check to the supplier of our computers. Last night while we were sleeping the US government transferred the money into the PIBC account so that we can buy new computers for the school. It's all a part of a USDA/RUS distance learning grant -- a project that I inherited when I arrived at PIBC. Some of the money will be used to buy new computers which will go into the computer lab on the Guam campus. Much of it will go to set up computers at our remote sites and campus.

Random

~ The earthquake on the Solomons lifted an entire island 10 feet out of the ocean -- destroying pristine coral reefs and exposing a sunken Japanese patrol boat that originally went down in WWII.

~ Are these really the top 10 theological challenges of the next 10 years?

Random

~ We have a cement shortage on Guam. If this could become a protracted problem it would raise the market value of existing homes and buildings -- most of which tend to be made of concrete, from top to bottom. Not much chance. The Taiwanese are sending us a shipment next week.

~ The global heating trend (regardless of whether it is a natural cycle or man-made phenomena) is affecting the fungi population -- longer growing seasons mean more fruit. It's got to be affecting molds and pollen producing plants, too. I'm sure allergy sufferers may already be aware of the changes. Global warming starts to hit home.

~ For the first time a greater percentage of women use the Internet than men.

~ Bookmark: Kuler for color schemes

~ Rich Mouw on how he moved toward a more "open" understanding of the Lord's Supper: "... but I still had to get past the I Corinthians 11 passage about eating and drinking unworthily, which had been so prominent in my upbringing. When I actually studied the passage in its context, I made my peace. Paul begins by chiding the members of Corinth for making a gluttonous meal out of it. They were overeating, and even getting drunk on the wine. It is with that in mind that he tells them that they are treating as if it were just another meal, and by not approaching the Lord’s Supper with respect they are risking judgment. There is nothing in what Paul says that would suggest that an honest seeker who is drawn to the Table without yet having a well-formed faith will be damned for partaking."

Random

~ Pope Benedict XVI might be quietly pushing behind the scenes for an end to the priestly celibacy rule. It is possible. But he's steering such a big clunky ship that I'm not sure he could make such a radical mid-course correction -- even if he spotted a giant iceberg in the path and was determined that something needed to be done. There are too many forces working against him -- and at 80-years-old he only has a few years at most to do anything.

~ Clad in street clothes, a world class violinist takes a Strad into the Washington Metro, opens the case for donations, and plays for 45 minutes. You can imagine the response. Not only is this an interesting scenario but it is a well told story. I would like my preaching students to read it so they could sense the way that the writer unpacks the tension -- slowly, line by line, person by person. I suspect that most of my students wouldn't know what a Metro is -- and they'd certainly not understand that Joshua Bell's Stradivarius really cost $3.5 million. But maybe they're not all that different.

~ Cartoonist Johnny Hart has died. Occasionally, his Christian themed cartoons created a stir.

Random

~ I've decided that I need a new baseball team to follow. And just to make it all a little more interesting I'm looking for something in the Japanese League -- Pro Yakyu. I'm inclined to go with the Yomiuri Giants, the oldest and most successful team. Besides, the uniforms look vaguely familiar to this San Francisco Bay Area boy. But I'm still not committed, yet. Any advice?

~ Marine conservationists have hooked up a "chat line" between two dolphin habitats. It's not as wacko as it first sounds. Actually, it's a very creative solution (hopefully) to an interesting problem.

~ This is a bit more wacko -- a Bluetooth banana. I'd like to know which ringtones are recommended for bananas.

~ This year marks the 550 anniversary of the founding of the Moravian Church. Those of us in the Evangelical Covenant Church note that we emerged out of the Pietistic movement in Swedish Lutheranism -- with influence from Moravian missionaries. IOW, a lot of our history is tied up with their history.

~ One of the great Moravian traditions is the Easter sunrise service, which is now common in other churches, too -- although most don't have the same flair. In the Moravian tradition the church band marches through the graveyard at sunrise, playing Easter hymns, marking Christ's victory, and taunting the graveyard with the reality of its ultimate demise.

~ This morning we went to the Easter sunrise service that the Guam United Methodist Church held on a beach in Yona. That was a first for us -- sunrise over the Pacific (see picture).

Easter sunset on the other side of the island was equally spectacular. This is a beautiful place to live.

~ Dallas Theological Seminary is offering a retreat for pastor's wives. I don't suppose they're going to follow that up with one for pastor's husbands. Nah -- probably not.

Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!

2007 is one of those years when the Eastern Church and the Western Church celebrate Easter/Pascha on the same day. Eventually we may all get on the same calendar. But we do already have the same liturgical greeting. Regardless of language it is the same. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Al Maseeh qam!
Haqqan qam! - Arabic

Qristos haryal y merelotz!
Haverzh ordnyal harutiune Qristosy! - Armenian

Krishti Ungjall!
Vertete Ungjall! - Albanian

Helisituosi fuhuole.
Queshi fuhuole. - Chinese

Kristus vstal zmrtvy'ch!
Skutec~ne~ vstal! - Czech

Christ is Risen!
He is Risen, indeed! - English

Crist is arisen!
Arisen he sothe! - Chaucerean Middle English

Christos T'ensah Em' Muhtan!
Exai' Ab-her Eokala! - Ethiopian

Kristus nousi kuolleista!
Totisesti nousi! - Finnish

Taw Creest Ereen!
Taw Shay Ereen Guhdyne! - Gaelic

Christus ist Auferstanden!!!
Wahrhaft auferstanden! - German

Christ ist Erstanden!
Wahrlicht Erstanden! - German

Christos Anesti!
Alithos Anesti! - Greek

Ha-Mashiah qom!
Be-emet qom! - Hebrew

Kristur reis upp!
Sannlega reis han upp! - Icelandic

Krestos a uprisin!
Seen, him a uprisin fe tru! - Iyaric Patw

Harisutosu Fukkatsu!
Jitsu Ni Fukkatsu! - Japanese

Kristo Gesso!
Buhar ha sho Nay! - Korean

Christus resurrexit!
Vere resurrexit! - Latin

Christus er Oppstanden!
Sandelig Han er Oppstanden! - Norwegian

Chrystus zmartwychwstal!
Zmartwychwstal prawdziwie! - Polish

Christos a Inviat!
Adeverat a Inviat! - Roumanian

Christos voskres!
Voistinu voskres! - Russian

Christos aftooun.
alethos aftooun. - Sahidic Coptic

Kristo'pastitaha,
Satvam Upastitaha! - Sanskrit

Christos Voskrese!
Voistinu Voskrese! - Church Slavonic

Kristus vstal zmr'tvych!
Skutoc~ne vstal! - Slovak

Cristo esta resucitado!
En verdad, esta resucitado! - Spanish

Meshiha qam!
Bashrira qam! - Syriac

Kristos Ame Fu Fuka!
Kweli Ame Fu Fuka! - Swahili

Kristus ar Upstanden!
Sannerligen Upstanden! - Swedish

Christ est ressuscite !
En verite il est ressuscite ! - French

Ukristu Uvukile!
Uvukile Kuphela! - Zulu

Random

~ Google has launched a free 411 (information) service that you access by dialing an 800 number and then answering computer generated questions. Unfortunately, this service isn't yet available on Guam. I suspect that we'll be on the top of the list, though, once they move it from the lab to beta.

~ Kent has a new part-time job as a government affairs/communications intern with the Building Industry Association of Orange County. He is a poli-sci major at UC Irvine. I just never imagined that anyone in my family could ever get a construction job. Alright Kent!

~ Cheryl and I have been helping with the music leadership during the "contemporary" service at the Lutheran Church of Guam. Next Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, we're supposed to lead the congregation in singing Kirk Franklin's song He Reigns. We'll probably do it just like he does it -- more or less -- probably a lot less -- although it would be great to have more. Lutheranism ain't what it used to be.

~ Democrats in the Michigan State House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would provide a free iPod (or other MP3 player) for every child in the state. I do like the innovative spirit of that state. But can you imagine the liability on this, when in 10 years those children are old enough to start suing the state over their hearing loss issues? Give them access to computers. Most MP3 files never make it off computers onto iPods anyway.

Paradise Trashed

I know that the Guam Visitors Bureau isn't going to like me mentioning this but here it goes anyway -- Guam is paradise trashed.

Many people don't really take care of their property. They care even less about the property of others and they tend to dump their garbage anywhere and everywhere -- including along the roadsides. There are abandoned rusting car shells on almost every street -- no exaggeration.

Occasionally the tourist industry applies a little pressure and someone gets a bee in their bonnet to clean it all up. We're in that phase right now.

So, yesterday there where tractors and a flatbed semi-truck on the road where PIBC is located in Mangilao. This is a part of an island-wide sweep to collect aging boonie cars from the roadsides.

They had 'em piled up high on the back of that trailer when it drove off yesterday afternoon. It was truly a beautiful sight.

I went to campus this afternoon and as I drove up, looking down the road, lo and behold, no surprise, I noticed that a new old boonie car has appeared in the approximate place where the old wrecks had been before they were hauled off yesterday.

Part of the problem is that people have come to expect this free clean-up service to be provided by the nearly bankrupt government. And GovGuam enables this entitlement mentality. Why not just abandon your dead car on the roadside? If you care, you know that the government will eventually come by to pick it all up.

So, here is my solution. Governor Camacho, I hope you're reading this because it will also solve most (if not all) of GovGuam's financial woes -- very very quickly. It's not complicated. Dispatch a police officer to photograph each abandoned car as evidence (you can borrow my digital camera if you need it) and to document the VIN number. Then slap the last registered owner of the car with a $3,000 mega-gross-littering fine. Put these cases high on the docket so you can generate the income to keep the courtroom doors open -- and so you can continue to milk this cash cow.

BTW, Mr Governor, I've got other low-investment high-return options that could relieve your throbbing head of that incessant financial aching. I'm easy to find. And the littering fine idea is a freebie.

Random

A lot of interesting tidbits came up on my radar today -- which is Friday out here "where America's day begins" but is still Thursday in most of the US. I suspect that people just had a lot to say before taking a long Easter weekend.

~ The Seattle P-I has a really fine summary of the issues associated with the current wave of teens/20's -- learning style, consumer habits, affect of ever-changing waves of technology -- "'Millennials' thrive on choice, instant results."

~ Forbes has a new list of best places for businesses and careers. Many of them are very livable places, too. Notably absent are California cities -- although Santa Ana shows up as #70 in the major metro list and Redding as #126 in the small cities list.

~ High-tech instruction does not lead to higher scores in science and math, according to a new study.

~ "The Big Dry" -- Australia is in the midst of a major drought.

~ This bodes well for all --
+ A record 57,318 high school seniors have been admitted to the University of California as freshman for the 2007-2008 school year
+ that's a 3.8% increase over last year
+ high school grade-point average of 3.79
+ average 590 on each test of the SAT and 25 on the ACT
+ admissions for Black and Hispanic students are up by 10%
+ Blacks, American Indians, and Latinos constitute nearly 23% of fall 2007 admissions
+ 38% of admitted freshmen are from families where neither parent has a four-year degree
+ about 35% come from low-income families

~ Just when you thought that the dorky Bluetooth ear attachment is the most Borg looking thing out there, along comes Ear-Lite, the flashlight that attaches to your ear. Battery life of 18 hours! So, when you're trying to figure out what to get everyone for Christmas... they're only 7 US bucks.

~ Rumor has it that researchers in New Zealand have discovered a dye that can be used in solar cells -- producing electricity at a fraction of the cost of current silicon-based solar cells.

Good Friday!

This 16th century altar painting by Lucas Cranach (the elder) explains why it is called "Good."

Can you identify all the characters and activity depicted?

Click on the pic for bigger view.

The painting is in Stadtkirche (city church) at Weimar, Germany.

Random

~ High flying wind farms -- using kites to generate electricity. Ben Franklin's theory taken up a notch -- or two or three... Looks good on paper. Article in the Economist

~ A bishop in the Episcopal Church USA has joined the Roman Catholic Church.

~ Betsy drove by our old house in Turlock last weekend. The new owners have cut down the two live oak trees I planted when we first moved in. Some people just don't understand the value of trees. Shade keeps the house cooler in the summer. The trees purify the surrounding air -- and they provide places for birds to hang-out -- the latter of which may be why they cut the trees down. If you're going to have lots of birds around you have to clean-up after them. Oh well.

~ The local headline reads "Emergency beach rescue leaves man in critical condition" -- which makes it sound like the poor fellow was victimized by his rescuers. He wasn't.

~ Wal-Mart is recreating itself into a personal improvement association for its employees.

Agnus Day for Easter Sunday

Click on comic for the larger version.

Based on the Easter Sunday Gospel reading, John 20:1-18.

Agnus Day, the Lectionary comic strip.

Random

~ Slideshow of contemporary Holy Week art from CT. It's definitely worth a visit.

~ Researchers have come up with a way to change type A, B, and AB blood into universal type O -- which is the blood type most in demand.

~ A French ISP bundles a computer in with its services -- and it's a Linux box. Interesting.

~ The Internet has killed the term paper.

Random

~ How about earning your master's in MySpace? The University of Michigan is now offering a master of science in information degree in "social computing."

~ Mollie Ziegler has a nice little piece on the intersection of journalism and religious reporting -- especially as it pertains to the debate between Mormons and Trinitarian Christians. A fine short summary of the issues.

~ Day of Discovery -- Steve Sillett and Michael Taylor discovered a previously unknown grove of titan Redwoods that "exists at the bottom of a hidden, notchlike valley deep in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park." The exact location is still a guarded secret. The story of discovery is fascinating. [via]

~ "Clues are still turning up 70 years after Amelia Earhart disappeared"

Random

~ They are building a Home Depot on Guam. So far there's nothing more to it than a cement slab -- but the first shoplifters have already been arrested.

~ Even if the typhoon warning is canceled perhaps we'll get a little rain out of the system - if we're lucky. The very thought of a typhoon knocked power off in some parts of Guam.

~ The Rise and Fall of Starbucks -- lessons for churches.

Storm update

As of 10 a.m. this morning Tropical Storm Kong-Rey was about 350 miles southeast of Guam -- still heading northwest. If it stays the current course the eye of the storm should cross over Rota in the middle of the night. Rota is the island about 40 miles north of us.

It is now expected that the storm will reach typhoon strength later today -- before it hits the Marianas (the group of islands of which Guam is the largest and most southern).

People are boarding up their windows or sliding in their typhoon panels. Two weeks ago we had accordion-style typhoon shutters installed at our house. It took about 3 minutes this morning to close and and lock them. I also moved the potted plants into our all-concrete condo from the patio. The preparation is amazingly simple if you're set-up for it.

The name Kong-Rey was submitted by Cambodia to the regional committee assigned with the task of naming tropical storms. Kong-Rey is the name of a pretty girl in a Khmer legend. There is also a mountain with the same name. It is the first storm name assigned in the 2007 season.

In the midst of all of this we were also under a tsunami watch for awhile this morning following a major earthquake on the Solomons. They got hit with a wave but we didn't.

Never a dull moment out here.

UPDATE: 2:15 p.m., Monday -- Tropical Storm Kong-Rey is now officially Typhoon Kong-Rey. It appears more and more like the center of the storm will pass slightly to the northeast of Guam -- still lots of rain and wind -- but perhaps Guam will be spared the brunt of the storm. Saipan, on the other hand, is right in the path for a direct hit. But it could all change rather quickly.

UPDATE 10:30 P.M., Monday -- The center of Typhoon Kong-Rey has passed to the east and the typhoon warning is canceled. No damaging winds are expected. Saipan could still get something out of this but I think they'll be spared, too. At the very least it was a good drill.

Random

~ Another war means another wave of military-generated slang entering the language.

~ It's April 1st -- so we shouldn't be surprised that Google has a new release today -- Gmail paper.

~ No joke. The USPS is issuing a 90 cent stamp featuring Guam.