"Where will you Find Him?"

My co-worker sent me a link to this article - it talks about Jesus, and Beer - it was just made for me.

So these Christian folk in Brittain are using a poster - this picture with the Phrase "Where will you find Him?" It is a very interesting concept - the first thing that came to my mind was the quote:

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
--Benjamin Franklin

But then after that, I thought of a story that I heard before I was a Christian, about one man's conversion that happened while he was high on drugs. I was always intrigued - this implied that either God worked through drugs, or that the man needed to get high to find God. Both interesting concepts.

Of course the mixture of God and alcohol upset some one - but I don't see how a poster like this is going to encourage any one to drink more, but only open the Gospel to those who may think it isn't available to them, because they have drank to long, and too hard. It is also quite clever with all the images of Holy Ones appearing on random places and being sold on EBay.

DJ Bob Brown Returns - Sept 11th - Minneapolis

So my friends run a Discipleship Camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota called the Boundary Waters Experience. They are having a silent auction to add to their "Scholarship Fund" - This fund allows kids who might not be able to afford the camping/canoe/community trip make it possible. Get the kids out of the hood, and make them crap in the woods.

I will be playing some background music for the event - chill electronic stuff 6PM till when ever. Nothing like the old days:


Here are the details if you are in the Neigborhood:
On Monday, Sept. 11, Eric Lacher and Jill Wing are hosting a fundraiser at Aura Bar/Restaurant (3001 Hennepin Ave. So., Mpls). Enjoy Aura's happy hour, DJ Bob Brown, massage therapist Marlene Larson, CMT, door prizes from Midwest Mountaineering, our silent auction/raffle, and other scheduled activities!!! Come and bring some friends. Your support and contributions can make a huge difference and are tax deductible! For more info.contact Marcus Andrusko (612) 743-7700 or marcus@bwexperience.com.

November 11th @ 1st Avenue

Jamie Lidell - just has to be the best performer to come on the scene in recent years.



This guy is a masterful electronic producer ( I used to play his records often as a Techno DJ) and has made the leap to writing real music. His performances are electric - he sings wonderfully, and re writes his own songs on the fly using multitrack loops, key boards, drum machines and beat boxing. It is amazing. He didn't make his show here in the spring - due to some inclimate weather - but I have heard that he is returinging and I am very stoked.

Very stoked.

Wikipedia, Truth and Colbert

So there is this very very funny clip from the Colbert report about Wikipedia, and how he can go online and change the facts.

So this article talks about how Colbert actually went online and changed facts about himself, George Washington and then encouraged his viewers to change info about elephants. Check it out, it even has a link to the video clip.

http://spring.newsvine.com/_news/2006/08/01/307864-stephen-colbert-causes-chaos-on-wikipedia-gets-blocked-from-site

The most interesting thing he said went something like this - "if you get enought people to agree with you, then the facts are far more convenient"

So it is funny how we could do that with anything, and it would probably be especially effective with things such as interpretations of the Bible. I mean we sit around and argue for one interpretation of the Bible, and then we site other people who agree with us, as if that makes our interpretation of the Bible more valid.

Look at the prophets - it is pretty clear that God's will and desire for the earth has very little to do with popular opinion - look at how it turned out for Jesus. So majority opinion is the way that we all argue for things - who ever has the most people agree - or the most possible or even logical opinion will be the "winner" of the discussion. Even though we know that God's thoughts are not like our thoughts. But now I am proof texting. Oh well.

Bad Joke

A minister wound up the services one morning by saying, ''Next Sunday I am going to preach on the subject of liars. And in this connection, as a preparation for my discourse, I would like you all to read the seventeenth chapter of Mark''.
On the following Sunday, the preacher rose to begin and said, ''Now, then, all of you who have done as I requested and read the seventeenth chapter of Mark, please raise your hands.''

Nearly every hand in the congregation went up.

Then said the preacher, ''You are the people I want to talk to. There is no seventeenth chapter of Mark.''

Can't stop reading...

So I found this website:

http://www.gullible.info/archive.php

Filled with random facts that are horribly interresting - for some odd reason. Here are some of my favorites so far:
- In a survey of Ohio residents, 12 percent said their favorite entertainer was "Jesus Christ."
- In a recent Department of Homeland Security sweep, three of California's state representatives were discovered to be illegal immigrants. Due to their standing in the community, they have not been deported or imprisoned, pending judicial review.
- The Sierra Club uses approximately 47,000 tons of paper per year for their fundraising mailings, almost none of which is printed on recycled paper.
- An average person's key ring has one key that hasn't been used in the last 9 months 21 days.

My Personal favorite - because it proves what I say about germaphobes:
- In a 2004 study by OSHA, it was discovered that people who will "usually" eat food that they've accidentally dropped on the floor report having 18 percent fewer sick days from work than those who "never" do that.


I hope it doesn't suck you in, like it has me

What makes it a miracle?

So as we were studying/translating the story in 1 Kings 17 about Elijah bringing the woman's son back to life we talked about some of the differences in the translations of this passage. Before you read this - know that I am not a fan of the labels "conservative" and "liberal" - This rant is a little explanation of why I think that having an agenda or allegiance to an agenda outside of serving God (to the best of your current knowledge and ability) can be very counter productive.

The Hebrew used literally means to say that the boy's "breath left him" which is a Hebrew (and English) euphemism for dying. Our professor pointed out that some "liberal" translations translated it as "breath left him" and some more conservative translations will translate this as "died".

Here is where it gets interesting - many "conservatives" will want to say that this was a "Miracle" that the boy was dead and Elijah raised him from the dead. While some "liberals" would say that Elijah JUST used some method of CPR to revive the boy. Both of these ideas seem to miss the point by a long shot.

The "liberal" seems to say that God can only do things that we can scientifically explain, and the "conservative" side seems to think that God can only act miraculously in ways that we cannot explain.

Both sides would seem to take God out of the MIRACLE of physical birth. Because we can explain it. The sperm and the egg meet in the Fallopian tube, and incubate in the womb... But the problem is that we still don't understand everything about how one cell becomes a brain cell, and another goes to your knee cap.

Who are we to say where God is and isn't? God made up the rules that science struggles to put into mathematic equations. If we make God confine to our current knowledge of the physical world then we are taking away his domain, and if we say that he can only work in the parts that we don't understand, then we are doing the same thing.

CPR is a miracle, it is a reproducible way to bring some one BACK FROM THE DEAD. Think that CPR would have worked 5000 years ago - it requires no technology, no electricity - only an intimate knowledge of the workings of the human creature. Just because we figured out how to do it, doesn't mean that it is any less miraculous.

Steve, don't eat that

Just wanted to share something funny for a change. Found this blog/website, and I couldn't stop laughing. The language is pretty foul, but man - it is so funny. This guy eats random things that are generally meant for human consumption in some culture or another. Pickled Porkrinds, to Prison Wine. Good Raffs. He gets a little off track with Beggin Strips, but it is still enormously entertaining (He makes a BLT out of the Bacon shaped dog treats.)
Steve Don't Eat That

Revenge begats revenge.

So I was poking around after Zarqawi (sp)'s death, on CNN's website.

They had an interview with a man who's son was most likely killed by Zarqawi about his reaction to the death.

CNN Story

Aside from the finger pointing, non productive political stuff towards the end of the article, I was really intrigued by his response. We humans thirst for Justice. Eye for an Eye stuff. It seems fair. But I identified with this man, as I looked at the picture of the man dead, there was no satisfaction for me. I felt satisfaction in the capture of Hussein, but not in this death. 1000 lbs of bombs didn't seem to fix the situation, and infact seem to encourage the violent culture that is part of the terrorist mindset.

My friend John seemed to hint at the lack of satisfaction provided by the ending of this life in his Blog:God, Baseball, Life: Where, O Death is Your Sting?

The forgiveness is what has gotten me - but it is little odd, because his forgiveness doesn't seem to include forgiving our President for mistakes an casualties of the war.

Being "Christian"

So, I am thinking again.

I read this article about a politician. It was talking about people committed to the Democrat/Republican Party (you must choose the one you align yourself with for this to work) that are trying to make sure that they gain control of the Senate/House. It made me think - at what point do we stop being committed to Democracy and the best interests of the country, and more committed to Being a "Democrat" or "Republican"?
I mean the "Republican" Party used to be the more "Liberal" party, but over time and change - etc. they are on the oposite end of the spectrum for the most part. So what it means to be "Republican" is not some set in stone thing.

This leads me to think - can Christians become too caught up in being "Christian" and all the things we think are attached to that, and lose sight of following God? So we(humans) set up this agenda of what it means to be "Christian" and we commit ourselves to that, instead of to doing God's will in our day and time?

I think so. I think it happens all the time.