In this AP story Jim Carrey says he and his lady love, Jenny McCarthy, aren't planning to get married. "No, we're never getting married, but we're never getting divorced, which is fantastic," the 45-year-old actor says on Tuesday's edition of "Access Hollywood."
More and more these days the words "living together" seem to be the words that describe a growing normative lifestyle in America. Celebrities like these folks are misguided role models that give creedance to be married without the exchanging of rings. I wonder what society will look like in 25 years.
Elijah Sims
Sometimes blogging can bring an unexpected blessing to my morning. This morning was one such time as I read a few excerpts from Elijah Sims' (the son of fellow blogger Danny Sims) journal of his missions trip to the Philippines. The picture to the right is one of Elijah holding the head of a person having a tooth pulled. Here is an excerpt from his excerpts:We then headed to the Sunrise clinic to help with the medical and dental mission. I held people’s heads still while they had their teeth pulled out. I had to step away 3 times because I felt sick from the cracking, snapping, and blood squirting… My friend Luke literally dragged me into the room where Luke’s Uncle Sam was performing surgery on people’s cysts. I was forced to see a woman be sewn up and then Luke set me free… I saw many sad and strange things today.”
Hats off to you Elijah from a friend and coworker in God's Kingdom.
Tony Dungy on Winning
"I'm proud to be the first African-American coach to win this," said Dungy during the trophy ceremony Sunday night, according to the Associated Press. "But again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's way. We're more proud of that."We are proud of you Tony for serving the Lord and testifying of Him.
US Budget
I got curious about our national budget, googled around looking for a pie-chart and found this chart at an anti-war website. The numbers are pretty staggering and explain why military spending is such an important topic of discussion when we consider how we are going to pay down the national debt which is now in the trillions. Anyone out there have a better pie-chart? I'll use it if you do.
National Prayer Breakfast
A few excerpts from Lisa Miller, an editor at the Washingtom Post, on her experience at this year's National Prayer Breakfast:
I am Jewish and the National Prayer Breakfast is an assembly of mostly Christians, with the express purpose of giving people “understanding, confidence and hope for the future through a deepening relationship with Jesus.”...Lisa also reflected on the president's appearance and how he seemed a bit defensive. I echo her sentiments about earnest, personal, heartfelt communication about God. I wouldn't blog if I didn't :)
Imagine my surprise, then, when I found myself moved nearly to tears, not once or twice but several times during the breakfast...
The oddball highlight of the morning, though, was offered by Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, believer in Christ and world-famous geneticist. In his keynote speech, Collins gave a passionate defense of the intertwining of faith and science, insisting that one point of view does not automatically negate the other. Then, as punctuation, the scientist pulled out an acoustic guitar, and like a wacky nursery school teacher, sang a hymn that glorified human wisdom and knowledge.
No one but a geek, as he called himself, could have pulled off such a stunt without drawing the derision of the crowd. But Collins is a geek and soon all 3,400 guests – from the Ukraine, Senegal, Belize, Texas, Virginia, and Brooklyn – were singing along. In that moment I saw what I wish the people trapped on both sides of the culture wars could see: That there is a time and place for talking about God in an earnest, personal, heartfelt way; that such talk is not, in itself, threatening or loaded; and that, if done honestly, with intelligence, humor and humility, can inspire people to feel the miracle—and the responsibilities—of human existence. Read more here.
Little Miss Sunshine | ★★★★★★★
02/03 Update: At her request, Ann and I viewed this movie last night and I have to admit that I was underwhelmed. I think that I would have enjoyed it more if the buzz on it had not been so high - it is Oscar nominated you know. That said I have to admit that it was fairly enjoyable, poignant and funny at times much like National Lampoon's Vacation. Ann enjoyed it more than I did. On a scale of 10 I give this movie ★★★★★★★From Stephanie's (Come What May) Best of '06 - Movies post:
I love Toni Collette and adore every movie I've seen her in. Then you add Steve Carell, Alan Arkin and Greg Kinnear? This tiny little independant movie was the most enjoyable thing I saw from the silver screen all year.When all the critics starting raving I was skeptical - because I always am. But this time I agree with them. This movie was an absolute delight from beginning to end, and if I don't see it showered with awards I will be bitter. It has the one of the more unique story lines in independant film that actually reflects real life without being dull or pretentious. You know how hard that is to come across? It is for this reason, I call Little Miss Sunshine the stand-out movie of the year.Don't know about you but this one is now on my DVD list ... my wife tried to get me to see it when it was in the theaters but I panned it for some unknown (macho) reason :)
The Beatles and The Gospel
I grew up listening to the Beatles in my teen years. I can still flash back to the first time that I heard She Loves You - simply sublime ... for a Junior Higher anyway. During my ten years I saw the Beatles' music go mystically dark and over time I lost interest in them and their music. So I was interested when I saw an article in the paper this morning on this book.
Steve Turner, author of The Gospel According to The Beatles , was recently interviewed by INFUZE. Here are a few excerpts from the interview:
I spent my teenage years listening to the Beatles. The very first article I ever wrote was on the Beatles for their fan magazine The Beatles Monthly. I've always found them exciting and interesting so it's a great pleasure to be able to investigate them in more depth.
As a Christian I've always been interested in the way they fused their changing beliefs with their music and how the music in turn affected a whole generation. So this is what the book investigates and hopefully people will learn about the Beatles, the Sixties and how they affected each other...
The book goes into their changing beliefs starting with their upbringing in different churches and ending with what they believed before they died (in the case of John and George) and what they seem to believe today (in the case of Paul and Ringo). I explain their gospel as one of expanded consciousness. They identified the problam in a song like "Nowhere Man" ("He's as blind as he can be...").
All the answers they came up with, whether it was drugs or eastern spirituial practices, had expanded consciousness as their goal. They believed that a child naturally has this consciousness and yet we lose it as we grow older. If we regain it, we see everything with a greater degree of clarity and are able to enjoy the present momenet rather than get hung up either on the past or the future...
It just gives me a deeper understanding of their view and how it did affect and continues to affect society. People who are now in important decision-making positions are people who grew up on The Beatles. Read more here.
Epic Spoof Movies
Christianity Today's review of Epic Movie got me thinking about how I like movies that spoof other movies. I guess I like them because it helps me not to take myself too seriously. Leslie Nielson has done some great, albeit lame, spoof movies like Airplane, Repossessed, The Naked Gun movies, and more recently the Scary Movie movies.Too bad that many of the later genre of these movies include questionable and rather nasty content. Don't think that I'll be seeing Epic Movie. Will you pass, catch it at the theater or wait for DVD?
Big Bird or Fozzie Bear?
Don't you just love these online tests? Karen referred me to The Sesame Street Personality Quiz that told that I have a Big Bird personality. They said this about me:Talented, smart, and friendly... you're also one of the sanest people around.This assessment really confuses me because I was once analyzed and told that I resembled another muppet. So who am I? Big Bird or Fozzie? And who are you?
You are usually feeling: Happy. From riding a unicycle to writing poetry, you have plenty of hobbies to keep you busy.
You are famous for: Being a friend to everyone. Even the grumpiest person gets along with you.
How you live your life: Joyfully. "Super. Duper. Flooper."
We Blog Cartoons
I regularly visit Dave Walker's Cartoon Blog ... his cartoons adorn the bottom right side of this blogsite as well as my other blogsite. Today Dave referenced a review from Christian Marketplace. To honor of Dave's work I quote the review below: A Review by John Leach
A relative newcomer to the Church Times, Dave Walker produces a weekly cartoon guide to the oddities of the Church of England, and this book is his fi rst published collection. Dave serves the vital function of comedians down the ages: he helps us to laugh at ourselves and our strange and surreal ways, and he may even be a catalyst for change, although of course if we became too normal we’d put him out of business. Like his fellow cartoonist Ron Wood, of St Gargoyle’s fame, Dave insists that what he has drawn is based on real-life experiences in various churches. I think his cartoons are works of genius, and he deserves you to stock them and sell them!
Home Schooling
Jason at Antioch Road does a book review of Home Schooling: The Right Choice, by Christopher Klicka. It got me to thinking.I have been around the homeschooling movement for about 25+ years and have seen it from different angles. What always impresses most is the young men and women who have been homeschooled most of their lives. These 20+ year olds are impressive and do seem to be a bit different in a very positive way.
I wonder if the key to their success is that they mainly interact with adults and are not exposed to unhealthy peer pressures at school. I think that the evolution of the public school system was one of the main changes in 20th Century American culture. Before this time schooling was either at home or in a small school atmosphere.
Maybe homeschooling works so well because it capitalizes on an environment that bonds parents and children ... one where peers and teachers are not the predominant influencers in children's lives.
Have you had any experience with this phenomenon? Any suggestions for people considering this education alternative. And for the record we did not home school our children.
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