Where's the fish?

We've now been through one whole school year at PIBC. And I'd have to say that it has been a very positive year for us. The students are fun -- and endearing. And they don't mind speaking their minds at times -- a good thing. The one "complaint" that I've heard over and over again all year is that the school doesn't serve fish. They aren't whining -- that's not their nature. But it is the nature of college students to complain about dorm food.

Most of our students are from Micronesian islands where fish are still plentiful and so everyone pretty much has their fill day in and day out. It's no big deal. Fish are an entitlement from the ocean.

But the ocean around Guam has been either fished out or so polluted that the kinds of fish islanders eat just aren't out there anymore. The fish sold in the market are super expensive.

And that's a hard concept to grasp -- that it costs a lot more to eat fish than chicken or pork. Most students are used to fishing themselves. Their families fish. If they want a fish they just step out the front door to the ocean. They grab their net or spear and get one.

It's not that they don't understand that fish cost a lot on Guam. It's just emotionally hard to understand how that could be. But dealing with the way things are elsewhere in the world is a part of the education they receive here on this big island (220 square miles). Still, it's hard to not be constantly asking, "Where's the fish?'

In the picture Pastor Hiob, the PIBC dean of men, is getting ready to cook up some chicken during PIBC Days last month.

Random

~ This double schnoz calf was born in Wisconsin. The poor animal will get a double-dose of that fragrance called dairy farm.

~ Even Berkeley has limits. "No, you can't live in shipping containers." So everyone is packing up and moving to Oakland.

~ Here comes the bride, all dress in green...

~ Ordination exam for the Episcopal Church. Interesting questions -- actually very good questions. I wonder if the expected responses would be different today than if they had asked these questions 75 years ago. (via)

~ Google is going to start doing a comprehensive flagging of all websites which contain malware -- those nasty sites which download extra little surprises onto our computers. Google is our friend. We'd all be in trouble if they ever went over to the darkside.

~ Is that Waren Buffet on a tenor uke? No wonder the guy is so rich. He really knows how to make music.

~ CT article on the unending food emergencies around the world: The real problem isn't drought -- but that there are people who have not or cannot join the modern economy.

Alpha Ad

The Alpha Course is the subject of the first Christian television ad in the UK and the ad is the subject of Ruth Gledhill's post. The ad is imaginative, thought-provoking, and because it is animation, it's not too in your face.



There are ads that didn't make the final cut.

Random

~ Green or greenwash? Probably some of both.

~ Interesting looking new title Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear -- "...explores the tension between Christian ethical imperatives and the anxieties of the post-9/11 world."

~ A few pictures from school.

~ We've been having trouble with our Skype accounts. We have set the chat so that "only those with whom we have shared our details" (the highest privacy level) can send us chat messages. But we keep getting these massive group chats that suddenly pop-up -- some pretty rank. Any suggestions on preventing this? Is there a way to turn the chat function off? Voodoo?

Random

~ Today was the end of the semester for me -- administered and graded two finals -- and turned the grades in. I had set-up a special final to help the preaching students who had bombed the reading test in February. About 25 students would have benefited but only nine showed up to take the test -- all women -- all of whom raised their grades in the class. I don't get it.

~ It seems wise to keep this photo in mind as they line all of you graduates up for photos. Do be careful where you stand. (via)

~ Glenn J. Schwartz is plugging his new book When Charity Destroys Dignity: Overcoming Unhealthy Dependence in the Christian Movement. (.pdf) He is saying the right things. Ralph Winter is excited about it (.pdf) I think we probably need to read it.

~ Instead of importing so many workers from the Philippines, Taiwan, and China to help with the military build-out on Guam, the US would like contractors to hire more Micronesians. This might be a hard sell. I'm not saying that there aren't workers available from Micronesia but the workers from the Philippines, Taiwan, and China have a reputation for industriousness.

~ "The head of a US intelligence agency told the Associated Press that commercial satellite services like Google Earth may need to be censored in the future in order to protect American interests." There has got to be a more creative solution -- if indeed the problem is real. Google Earth images seem to be so dated that they wouldn't be of much use to terrorists.

~ CT's David Neff has an interview with Francis Beckwith, the ETS president who recently resigned his position to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church.

~ They've stopped treating Tammy Faye Messner's (of Jim and Tammy Bakker fame) cancer. She's down to 65 lbs.

~ Something fun from Sweden -- although I don't think the woman is really playing the guitar.

~ Bookmark: Test your Internet connection speed -- InternetFrog.com. (via)

Random

~ At least one television station is using Slingshot as a cost-cutting alternative to send video feeds from the field to the station. More on the way.

~ In case you're thinking that the emerging church movement is the only circus in town -- there are other movements developing in the church -- some which contradict the "people want small, intimate, genuine community" rhetoric of the emerging church. For example, LifeChurch.tv, a large congregation in Oklahoma City, has added its 11th site -- this one in Albany, NY. They also have an "Internet congregation."

~ Mastering microlending.

~ Happiness, one of our PIBC students, has put together a little slideshow. Wait! There is more.

~ Hotmail has morphed into Window's Live Hotmail. The website is busy looking and it loads slowly -- at least out here in the middle of nowhere. It's not new and improved enough to lose the advertising tag that they put at the bottom of each email. My account probably won't get much use.

~ Oh, brother. Mormons may be off-base theologically but they aren't stupid. We shouldn't pretend that they are.

~ There is a new federal law aimed at cracking down on cockfighting. I doubt that there is anyone on Guam who will enforce it. Cockfighting is ubiquitous. Our neighbors raise fighters and the house behind us where we used to live hosted fights a couple of times a week. Technically it's already all illegal.

~ Pam "The Star Lady" Eastlick, planetarium coordinator at the University of Guam sent out email saying that the budget cuts which threaten to shut down many of Guam's non-essential services will likely close the planetarium unless she can raise $55,000 to keep it going. They run a great little monthly program that is packed with students and others from the community. And they do it all for free because by law they are prohibited from charging admission. (Another example of half-baked legislation.)

~ I'm more concerned that the ongoing lack of funding may actually jeopardize the accreditation of the University of Guam -- which would have a significant ripple effect throughout the Western Pacific (to start with -- loss of federal student aid and other funding). The money has been allocated by the government but there is either never enough to go around or it is lost before the school gets it.

Random

~ MissionEquip.com is a terrific portal and resource center for people who do Christian ministry abroad -- and those who support them. They have a blogger section which among other things draws on syndicated material from missionary bloggers. Take a look. Get in touch with them if their project grabs you.

~ New study: 15% of US adults have neither cell phones nor an Internet connection. And it sounds like they mostly prefer it that way. Luddites. :-)

~ Have they discovered King Herod's tomb? Herod, who died in 4 BC, was one of Israel's cruelest rulers.

~ It is being reported that there are between 60,000 and 80,000 Base Communities still active in Brazil. How is it then ,with so much "small group ministry," that the country continues to slide into secular anarchy? Roman Catholicism is definitely on the decline. The Pope is on the way, hoping to carry out a rescue mission.

~ To keep the flames down Francis Beckwith, who recently became a Roman Catholic then resigned as president of the Evangelical Theological Society, has gone a step further and resigned altogether from ETS. While that's unfortunate (a lost opportunity for some true dialog) I appreciate his desire for peace.

~ Meanwhile, in the old country, a soccer game between priests and imams was canceled because they couldn't agree on whether women should be allowed to play. When my grandfather left Sweden in 1920 there probably weren't any imans in the country. And there certainly weren't female priests. But if there had been they would have set-up a hockey match (the new sport which was catching on like wildfire) rather than soccer. Lots of change.

~ Jim Bakker 20 years later. New place, new wife -- old familiar sounding story.

~ If gas is averaging $3.48/gallon in California I think we got out just in time. Out here in the middle of nowhere we're only paying $3.23/gallon.

~ Wal-Mart, in the process of morphing from red, white, and blue to green, is doing some serious rewiring of their facilities. Their new solar power project at 22 sites "is estimated to be as much as 20 million kWh per year, and the aggregate purchase could be one of the US, if not the world's, top-10 largest solar power initiatives."

~ Is Tom Wright the most influential New Testament scholar among emerging church leaders? Probably. And for good reason. Wright speaks to the postmodern mind in a very reasoned manner.

~ Pie throwing in Colorado church service.

Random

~ PIBC received another mention from Comedy Central -- this time on their blog. Apparently they appreciated our response to their humor.

~ What do young people living in the California fusion culture most desire? According to a new survey -- marriage, parenthood, and religion -- family stability.

~ Scot McKnight is advocating for a kinder, gentler, more humble evangelicalism.

~ Biola University has a new president who seems to out of the mold.

~ Worth a look -- Anthony Robinson on "Pastor as Teacher, Congregation as Learning Community"

~ Terry Mattingly has a powerful tribute to Robert Webber.

The new coffee maker

Even though I'm not a coffee drinker I love Cheryl's new coffee maker. It doesn't send out a screeching tonal blast when the coffee is done or it is turning itself off. I suppose the designers of our old coffee maker thought that they were doing us a favor with the extra signal (which couldn't be turned off) but it just got to be too annoying to live with. Someone in R&D thought that they were doing consumers a favor -- but the fact is that less is often better.

Random

~ "Pastoral Excellence and Competence," William Willimon's talk at the Covenant Midwinter Conference. Video or text.

~ I want one -- a keyboard waffle iron.

~ Ancient-Future Legacy -- the latest Christian History & Biography newsletter contains excerpts from a few of Robert Webber's writings and from those who knew him well. My own sense is that we shouldn't just remember him as the worship renewal guy or as an academic theologian. Bob Webber was primarily a missiologist.

~ Chris Erdman, pastor of University Presbyterian Church in Fresno, has a book on preaching coming out in September. Chris is a very engaging preacher. I heard him when he was the speaker at Dan's graduation from Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary a couple of years ago.

~ Dr Francis Beckwith, the president of the Evangelical Theological Society and a professor at Baylor University, has become a Roman Catholic -- again. Evangelical theologians are a bit dazed and baffled by it all. It was a complicated decision, says Beckwith. See his post on the Right Reason blog. Don't miss the comments section at the bottom of Beckwith's post where Doug Groothuis, in true form, reams him out.

Random

~ I suspect that the real reason Americans love 5 de mayo is that they're looking for one more reason to dis the French. Of course, there is also our burrito and taco infatuation. (Still looking -- can't find any Mexican food on Guam. Everything called "Mexican" seems to be made with Asian or island spices. Oh, well...) ¡Viva México! ¡Viva Juárez! ¡Viva la comida de México! Viva el 5 de mayo!

~ Costco in the Bay Area is doing an end-run around another giant by stocking Mexican Coke in their warehouse stores. Small neighborhood grocers specializing in Mexican have been doing the same for years. Now they have a source other than somebody's brother-in-law who always drives a van load up when he returns from Baja.

~ Small town Canadian store undercutting Wal-Mart by reselling goods purchased at Sam's Club. But are they actually making a profit doing so? I have serious doubts.

~ Paris Hilton is facing a 45-day jail sentence. I suspect that the judge is trying to send her a wake-up call -- encouraging her to embrace maturity.

~ How you say it is at least as important as what you say.

~ 200 skinny dipping Lutheran college students. Only by grace. Yes, ELCA.

~ The Agnus Day for tomorrow's Gospel text -- John 13:31-35

Random

~ Cheryl and I got to help out with the Habitat for Humanity dinner and game nite at the Marriott this evening. There were about 360 players. Great fun. The picture is of Cheryl (left) handing out prizes to a contestant.

~ More low cost laptops ($200, $250+) for students -- especially in developing countries. However, some Indians are aiming for $10 laptops.

~ Thomas Long has sensible words on pulpit plagiarism.

~ Pros and cons of guerrilla marketing.

~ Our #2 son continues to find himself in the same room with world leaders -- this time with President Carter -- second row seat at UCI. I agree with Kent. He is a very nice guy. Because of his lack of pretense and his willingness to speak up for the less fortunate he's perhaps my favorite president.

~ Two new important endorsements for the TNIV translation of the Bible. e.g. "As a New Testament scholar I cannot commend this translation highly enough. It passes everything else out there in the fast lane." -- Ben Witherington, Asbury Theological Seminary

Random

~ British research: "Pedestrians all over the world are walking about 10% faster than a decade ago..." If this is true of the islands as well, people were really living in slow motion in the 90's. I wonder if there is a correlation between walking pace and the state of any given economy.

~ Business 2.0, a tech magazine published by Time, lost all of the editorial content of it's June edition in a computer crash. There was no back-up. Oops.

~ Tony Campollo has an apology for the institutional church. Sample: Young people often tell me that they are wary of the institutional church because they believe it is filled with hypocrites. Well, it is. What these people fail to understand, however, is that it is because the church is filled with hypocrites that they'll be right at home in it. If they don't think their own lives are filled with hypocrisies, then they are blind to the truth. We in the church make no bones about it. We acknowledge our hypocrisy. We believe that everyone is a hypocrite, if by "hypocrite" we mean someone who does not live up to his or her declared ideals and does not practice what he or she preaches...

~ We've created a new email newsletter for people who would like to keep up on the happenings at Pacific Islands Bible College. It will be published on a very occasional basis. To sign-up send an email to pacificislander-subscribe@googlegroups.com.

Random

~ When I logged on this morning I noticed that my Google Personalized Homepage had morphed overnight into "iGoogle." Other than the "i" it all looks the same and functions the same. So if it makes Google feel better to ditz with the name -- whatever. They're giving me the service for free.

~ Dell plans to offer the Ubuntu operating system on their machines.

~ Beth has a good short post on kairos and chronos time.

~ When you come visit us on Guam we'll have to take you to Sesomjai Thai Restaurant -- a hole-in-the-wall along Marine Drive, backing up to the bay -- great food and there is hardly anyone in there in the evenings. I don't understand.

~ John Stott is retiring from public ministry at the age of 86. He has been and is a true blessing to the church.

~ The US military has a chaplain shortage.

Color coordinated

When Melissa came over a couple of weeks ago we noticed that she had dressed to go with our color scheme. Some people are so naturally stylish.

Random

~ Robert Webber obits -- CT & the Covenant website

~ The 88 computers for our distance education program arrived this afternoon. Hopefully we can get them all processed before the end of the summer.

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.