Worth The Wait

For some reason, the wife and I have taken in a more-than-usual amount of movies in the past couple of weeks. We don't go to the "big screen" all that often, but a few movies or series seem to warrant a trip to the theater. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the Narnia (all in the series of each) are such great stories, and wonderful escapism. Add to that the Indiana Jones series. At the age my kids are, we can enjoy most of these together. We don't exactly enjoy paying the high price for a family of 5 to go. Regardless, closed my eyes at the ticket window and saw the newest (and probably last) movie this weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of fun, lots of action, vintage Indy.

The Story of Stuff

You need some time, like 20 minutes. But this is a fascinating little video called The Story of Stuff. Very interesting, and something we all should see & understand. Check it out at http://www.storyofstuff.com/ (Thanks to Troy for passing this along!)

Obama's Uphill Battle

First off, I'm not promoting any one candidate over another. There are things I like about a couple of them, and really liked one of the guys who bowed out a few months back. But I do believe in a fair fight, and from the looks of signs like this one that pop up at many campaign rallys, it seems we still have a long way to go in our country.

In my home state of Kentucky, I was not surprised in the least that Clinton crushed Obama in the recent primary. Outside of a few larger areas (Lexington, Louisville), its easy to live a "diversity-free" existence. I spent the first 21-ish years of my life in one of 2 towns in KY, and the only person(s) of color I knew during that time were exchange students from Zimbabwe during college.

I've heard lots of stories from the past. One such story happened in 1919, when all of the blacks in my home town were gathered up, placed on a train, and shipped out of town. Somewhere out there is a documentary about this event. But many years later in the mid-80's, the effects of that event were still evident. There were no blacks in or around our town. None. I know, there are lots of possible reasons for that. It wasn't exactly an area that lots of people were looking to move into in the first place. In fact, a lot of us were hoping to spread our wings and fly somewhere else (and many of my friends did). But I think there was a general vibe that those of color were not welcome. I never heard it said, or saw it in action. But I did hear comments. Stories that made me scratch my head and wonder what's wrong with people.

So I'm not surprised Obama had a poor showing in Kentucky. I don't think my experience is different from most of the state. I just thought we were closer to moving past that. Voting (or not voting) for someone because of their politics is one thing. Because of their skin color (or gender, for that matter) is quite another.

A New Book, A New Artist

Been reading a pretty interesting book. It's entitled "11 Indispensable Relationships You Gotta Have" by Leonard Sweet. Sor far, really enjoying it. The idea behind the book is that our Christian journey is as important as our destination. So influential 'partners' as we travel along are important to our success at this Christian life thing. It's sort of an iron-sharpens-iron approach, and good to ask as I read: do I have a person that does this in my life, and am I able to in turn do this in the life of another? Very good thusfar; had the occassion to hears Sweet in person last fall, and he rolled out 6 of the 11. Glad to have stumbled across this book.

Speaking of stumbling across stuff, happened to find a new artist who showed up on the most popular purchase list at http://www.independentbands.com/ (his CD is out of stock there at the moment), but followed a link to his MySpace music page, and really like his stuff. His name is Jeff Johnson. Actually contacted him, to see if he might come through Indiana anytime. I believe he's from Texas or somewhere out west. Anyway, give him a listen. He does a cover of 'Inside Out' from Hillsong United that's very cool. (Saw somewhere on some site that he was actually on American Idol, perhaps even the first season. Didn't know that or remember him, but I do like the sound of what he's doing currently...)

Tragic Day

I've long been a fan of Steven Curtis Chapman, and highly admire & respect not only his tremendous songwriting, but his humble spirit and personality. Just an amazing talent. His recent push regarding international adoption is very cool, having adopted on more than one occassion himself.

Which makes the news of the last two days that much more hard to swallow. His teenage son tragically struck & killed their 5-year-old daughter from China in the driveway of their home. I can't imagine. I think these sorts of things hit you much harder when you're a father, too. My heart goes out to the Chapman family. His music has ministered to so many over the years, including me. I hope the prayers & thoughts of the masses are felt & evident in this terrible time. You can read more about the story from this Nashville area newspaper.

When You Call To Get Your Computer Fixed...

Called customer support lately? Tried to get service to fix your computer, or anything else? Chances are you're getting someone in India. Here are a couple of actual pics from India, which should make you feel confident about the level of tech support you're getting.....

Everything That's Wrong With Politics

"Each of the Coburn Seven counts himself pro-life. If a bill came to the Senate floor that would save millions of unborn children, one assumes that pro-life members would push to improve it, accept a few necessary compromises and then enthusiastically support the legislation. It is difficult to imagine why pro-life legislation involving millions of Africans should be viewed differently. "

- Author, columnist, and former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, criticizing Senators Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, Saxby Chambliss, David Vitter, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr--Republicans who have signed a hold letter preventing action on the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). (Source: The Washington Post )

A Tale of Two Movies

Last night, I wanted to see what all the fuss was concerning The Golden Compass. So we blew a buck on it from the neighborhood McD's RedBox, our new rental friend, and gave it a whirl.

Really? People were worried about this movie? First of all, it just wasn't that good. I'm not just saying that to solidify my moral compass (pun intended), but I thought the movie just was kinda bland. The ending of the film couldn't have been more "here comes the sequel", much more than many where we all knew sequels were imimnent.

I remember the countless email forwards warning that this film was going to send our children's faith foundation into a tailspin dive that would surely land them in the clutches of Satan himself. Well, sorry. It just isn't good enough to do that. If you didn't know that the author Pullman was an athiest and was taking intentional shots at the Catholic church, well, you wouldn't know that from the movie. Compass won't drag anyone into athiesm, just like Harry Potter won't raise up a generation of wizards.

As luck would have it, our George Bush check arrived recently, so we could afford the once a year journey to the local Cinema 10 to take in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Talk about night & day. Where Compass was weak (cheesy CGI, bad acting, not that great a story), Caspian kept me on the edge of my seat (along with paying for a family of 5 to go to the movies!) I thought the first Chronicles was good, though there was some cheese. None here with Caspian. Excellently done. Of course, the religious symbolism was of special interest to me, but I think the movie is good even if you're unaware. I found Caspian to be an excellent upgrade from the first movie, and that bodes well for the remainder of the series (next up: Dawn Treader, in May of 2010).

A couple of interesting footnotes. Compass and Wardrobe cost the same to make: roughly 180 million. Wardrobe brought in 291 million, plus another 450 million abroad. That's a lot of Turkish Delight. Compass, on the other hand, did 70 million in the US, and 301 abroad. But talk of sequels has gone away, and the New Line studio was recently folded into Warner Brothers. Pullman might want to stick to books. Did the Christian 'boycott' cause Compass to fail? Not sure, but having seen it, I assume the critics didn't like it. It just wasn't good.

(Interesting article about these two from Time Magazine, where I got my stats in the previous paragraph - here's the link)

Members of Russian cult trickle out of cave

Never ceases to amaze me. Read the article here.

Interesting thought from Anne Lamott, fantastic writer & one of my faves...

I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to
know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle
of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to
dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have
time to cling to the need to be right.
- author Anne Lamott, in a recent
interview. (Source: The Washington Times)

Shane Claiborne quote

Came across this quote from Shane Claiborne, autor of Jesus for President and The Irresistible Revolution. The quote is from the latter...

"As my teacher Tony Campolo used to ask, 'Even if there were no heaven and
there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the
life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now?' I am more and more convinced
each day that I would. Don't get me wrong. I'm excited about the afterlife. We
are going to party like there's no tomorrow (umm, and there won't be). And yet I
am convinced that Jesus came not just to prepare us to die but to teach us how
to live."

Showstoppers

My son plays bass for the band that backs up both of the show choirs for our highschool. Both groups are very good, and its kind of a big deal. They head off to Florida for the big competition called Showstoppers, and they spend a few days at the Disney resort, get a park pass to all the parks, etc. Fun times. Before the groups leave for the trip, you're "strongly advised" to make a sign for your kid that shows your support. Most of them say stuff like "Ashley, You Go Girl! Knock 'em Dead @ Showstoppers!" That sort of thing. We've decided to be subsversively humorous in our approach to these departure tributes. So here is our sign. I predict it will be the favorite sign of the bunch.

What's Next for Mike Huckabee?

I didn't think Huckabee had much of a chance, but there were some things about him I liked. This article from Soujouners and Jim Wallis was interesting. In many ways, he's more appealing that those who remain in the November race. Check out the article....

What's Next for Mike Huckabee?
Get a free issue of Sojourners
Tuesday evening, John McCain clinched the Republican nomination for president, and Mike Huckabee, the last remaining contender, conceded defeat. Huckabee's campaign, and the failure of the Religious Right to support him, has been one of the most interesting and puzzling stories of this primary season.

While Huckabee is certainly a social conservative, he refused to toe the line on a number of issues. And that is more evidence for why I say the monologue of the Religious Right has ended and the evangelical agenda has broadened.

In the Republican YouTube debate, the candidates were asked if they believed every word of the Bible. Huckabee said that while some of the Bible was allegorical, we needed to take much of it much more seriously than we do - such the words of Jesus that say, "As you have done to the least of these you have done to me." This is not the text that most conservatives quote when asked about the authority of the Bible.

In an interview with Reuters in January, Huckabee spoke about the broadening evangelical agenda:

Unquestionably there is a maturing that is going on within the evangelical
movement. It doesn't mean that evangelicals are any less concerned about
traditional families and the sanctity of life. It just means that they also
realize that we have real responsibility in areas like disease and hunger and
poverty and that these are issues that people of faith have to address.

And when conservative columnists such as Robert Novak attacked Huckabee for not being a "real conservative," this is precisely what they meant.

When Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, he advocated spending money on poor people - behavior that is offensive to the economically conservative wing of the Republican Party. While Huckabee is a consistent social conservative, he is considered suspect by the party's economic conservatives who, of course, don't support spending any money on overcoming poverty.

Huckabee disagrees with them.

On immigration, in that same debate, there was an all-out attack on "illegal aliens" who became the new scapegoat, the new "other," for many of the Republican candidates - and the preferred way to energize their primary base. Except for the acknowledgement from John McCain that "these are God's children too," every Republican candidate preceded to demagogue the issue, beating up on undocumented immigrants for crass political gain.

But then Mike Huckabee spoke. He agreed that our borders need to be protected and enforced (I do too), but then defended his support for a failed bill in Arkansas to give scholarships to exceptional students - including undocumented children. He said he didn't want to punish children for their parents' illegal actions because "that's not what we typically do in this country." This educational plan, he said, was intended to bring people from illegal to legal status. He continued, saying that he had received a good education; but if he hadn't, "I wouldn't be standing on this stage; I might be picking lettuce; I might be a person who needed government support." Then he said, "In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did." Although he later moved more to the right in the heat of the primaries, that response remains.

Is that ultimately why the leaders of the Religious Right didn't support Mike Huckabee until late in the primary season? Is it because many on the Religious Right are really more committed to economic conservatism than social conservatism? Have religious conservatives gotten so used to their access to power that are they afraid to risk standing for principle over pragmatism?

Huckabee was the most consistent social conservative Republican in the race - he won a straw poll at the FRC Values Voters Summit this winter - yet most of the leaders of the Religious Right never rallied around him. But the evangelical base did, keeping him in the race until this week.

Now that he is out of the race, what's next for Huckabee? The conservative Washington Times said that Huckabee is at the forefront of an evangelical revival, and quoted his former communications director as saying

He has become the leader of a new generation of Christian conservative voters.
... There is nobody else you can identify outside of Mike Huckabee as a leading
person to take on that role, really in a new era where evangelicals care about a
lot of things like the environment and working with the poor.

And, as former Bush staffer David Kuo wrote in The Washington Post,

That there's now a pitched battle for the soul of the religious right is a
horrifying thought to Republican leaders long familiar with the old religious
right, a hierarchical group dominated by larger-than-life figures who'd anointed
themselves Jesus's political representatives. But that movement is withering at
the top and in revolt at the grass-roots. ...

What's new is how widespread social justice issues are in the evangelical world. Leading New Testament theologian N.T. Wright, a conservative, says that the greatest moral issue today is not abortion but the economic inequality between the U.S. and Europe and the developing world.
So, stay tuned. We haven't heard the last from Mike Huckabee.

NFL Allows Church Groups to show Super Bowl

This just in from ESPN.com....

The NFL will allow church groups to show the Super Bowl on large-screen televisions, reversing a policy that drew criticism from elected officials.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will no longer object to "live showings -- regardless of screen size -- of the Super Bowl" by religious organizations, The Washington Post reported.

An earlier story in The Post about church groups canceling Super Bowl parties over fear of legal action by the NFL led to protest by some lawmakers and conservative leaders.

At the center of the issue is an NFL policy which holds that organizations showing public viewings of its games on televisions larger than 55 inches violate the league's copyright. Sports bars are exempt from the policy, but last year, the NFL sent letters to two church groups, advising them of the rule, according to The Post.

In its letter to Hatch, the NFL said it would not object to big-screen viewings in churches as long as they are free and held on premises that the church uses on a "routine and customary" basis, according to the report.

Hatch said in a prepared statement that he was grateful that the NFL made the exception.
"Many families want to enjoy the Super Bowl in a group atmosphere -- but obviously aren't going to take their kids to a sports bar," he said, according to The Post.

Steve Holley, executive pastor of Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va., which canceled its big-screen Super Bowl party this year over the policy, was also pleased by the change.

"[The NFL] decided to set aside profit for community spirit," Holley said, according to The Post. "I'm encouraged by that."

THIS IS COOL; HERE'S A FEW PICS FROM OUR PARTY THIS YEAR. WE HAD 75 OR SO FROM THE VARIOUS HOMELESS SHELTERS IN TOWN COME AND PARTICIPATE! OH, AND NOTICE THE TOM BRADY PINATA...ALSO KNOWN AS THE "TOMNATA"

Most Redeeming Films of 2007

I like movies, I just don't go that often. Busy, its expensive, etc. But we do rent from time to time, and occassionally there is a good movie that comes along. Anyway, Christianity Today has a list of their Most Redeeming Films of 2007. I've seen one...the cartoon rat that cooks. The rest I'll get around to via rentals. If you're interested, click here to see their list and a short synopsis of each film.

Kelvin's New Job?

The writer's strike is finally over, and some of the most creative stuff happening in the entertainment industry can now resume production. I know everyone doesn't get the humor in The Office, but its one of my favorites, and I'm looking forward to the next episode (which isn't until April). Pretty clever stuff. If you're not into it, its worth giving it a chance for a few weeks...maybe it will grow on you. Or maybe not. As for me, I'm in withdrawal and can't wait!

Jeff Coffin with HS Jazz Honors Band

OK, so this guy is awesome. Cool that the young Marshall lad is playing bass right behind him. Kid playing the alternate sax part is from the same school (this is an honors jazz band made up of kids from several schools; they only practiced a little Friday night and a little Saturday morning.) Coffin plays with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and has played sax with anyone who's anyone in music. Very, very cool. (try a youtube search for him and find some very cool clips - he's kinda famous for playing 2 saxes at a time...video coming soon)

If you have time, watch this video, with Bela Fleck and bassist extraordinaire Victor Wooten - Coffin does the double sax thing for a bit toward the end.

What if...

Top ten ways the Bible would be different if it were written by
college students

1.Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning - cold.
2.The Ten Commandments are actually only five, double-spaced, and written in a large font.
3.New edition every two years in order to limit reselling.
4.Forbidden fruit would have been eaten because it wasn't cafeteria food.
5.Paul's letter to the Romans becomes Paul's e-mail to abuse@romans.gov.
6.Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
7.The place where the end of the world occurs: Finals, not Armageddon.
8.Out go the mules, in come the mountain bikes
9.Reason why Moses and followers walked in desert for 40 years: They didn't want to ask directions and look like freshers.
10.Instead of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh, He would have put it off until the night before it was due and then pulled an all-nighter.

Free Hugs

OK, so I'm a little behind. This has been around for a bit, but I just came across it. Made me smile. Hope it does you too...