Random

• Our good friends at Wellspring Covenant Church in Honolulu are the subject of a write-up in PRISM (Evangelical Social Action). Even PIBC is referenced! ~ link

• The other day I was bemoaning the overly slick websites on the ChurchRelevance's "top 90 church websites." There are, however, lots of churches with great websites that don't rely on models or staged photos, aren't hokey, and which ooze both quality and authenticity. The site for College Center Covenant Church in San Diego is a good example. When you visit them on the web you get a good sense for who they are and what they're like. ~ link

• Yesterday was a busy day for the Guam Boydstons. ~ link

• The headline in this morning's Pacific Daily News says -- "Backpacks can cause injuries: Pick right pack, ensure it's not overloaded." I'm guessing that most readers are thinking, Guam public school students probably don't have to worry about overloading their backpacks with books. They'll be fortunate if there are any books at all.

• Surströmming -- crazy Swedes ~ link

• The ruins of the housing bust in Merced, California ~ link

Merced, even though it has one of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in California, is one of my favorite Central Valley towns. It's a very interesting mix of people. However, with proximity to the Bay Area and the new UC Merced in town it became the target for real estate speculators. And when the market went bust Merced was hit hard. This makes housing really affordable for those moving in. Give Merced five more years and they'll be back on top.

• Doing hard time in Korea's cram schools ~ link