Campaign Slogans

My favorite campaign slogan ever “Cthulhu for president…why vote for a lesser evil?” I put in the link for the Science Fiction challenged…its OK though, you’re probably better off that way.

COD Blogroll: The Sovereign Grace Blog

I’m blogrolling C.J. Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace Blog because every post so far has been fantastic. Plus, he blogs about hockey. HOCKEY people.

Biblical Manhood On Ice I love that.

Extreme Sci-Fi Geek

I found this courtesy of Dan Phillips Biblical Christianity Blog. It was a fun SF quiz based on sounds from movies. I blew two 1950ish classics and scored:

Your Score : 85 credits
You’re an extreme sci-fi geek! You’re probably wearing your very own homemade TRON costume right now!




	I received 85 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Take the Sci-Fi Movie Quiz

I’ve never made a TRON costume but when I found the 20th anniversary re-release I bought it AND watched it.

Click-Clack-Moo: Baptists That Type

This post is marginal. I don’t care if they have to use Champagne evangelism at Mars Hill Church. Have you ever been to Seattle? Someone needs to preach there…

The real meat of this thing is in the Meta where Frank says he is looking for dialog about the same and warns about the IDV (Internet Doctrine Vigilantes). Read it and learn something about blogging you wish you didn’t know.

The Gospel of Mark

Note: This Post is part of the series “Studies in Mark” see the Series Index for other posts in this series.

I think of all the gospels Mark is my favorite. There are a number of reasons for this so I’ll share some of them. It’s a short, powerful book—which is good. Mark is a quick read if you’re trying to re-establish a Bible study routine. If you could only have one book for preaching and teaching about Jesus you could do a good job with Mark. I also love it because Mark was flawed. He was just a kid the night Jesus was crucified and fled like the others. Worse, in fact, he fled naked. The next we hear of him he’s working with Paul and, once again, leaves the work because it’s too hard.

The third time, though, something has happened. Something important that deserves out attention. We hear about Mark a third time from Paul in 2 Timothy 4:11 (ESV) “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” Paul, who had once been so adamant about Mark not participating in his ministry that he split up with Barnabas who was his long time partner in the work, here instructs Timothy to “Get Mark and bring him with you….” And it had to be a blow. I mean we are talking about the Apostle Paul here. A denunciation from him stuck. In spite of this, Mark didn’t quit. He kept trying to get it right and, it seems, he finally did.

That’s encouraging to you and me and those of us who, it seems, take many more than three swings before we finally get it right. Mark did and not only did he get it right, but God chose him to write down the story of Jesus in a book of the Bible. The Gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus ministry from Baptism to the Cross.

Originally I was going to start this on Christmas but then I realized that Mark didn’t start with Jesus birth he started with his Baptism. See? I NEED to do this study…

Other posts in this series.

Live From Tulsa!

Yes, I’m live-blogging our road trip to Tulsa with four children for a family Christmas celebration. Of course by the time you read this I’ll probably be home..or locked up in the looney bin.

HEY! Get away from the toilet with that toothbrush…

But seriously, it hasn’t been too bad. We ate at Johnny Carino’s Italian at about 41st and Harvard and it was simply fantastic. We had Italian Nachos which is sort of hard to explain. There’s this fabulous cheese sauce on won-ton like chips with chicken and Italian sausage, tomatoes, black olives, jalapeno’s and some sort of sweet pepper. Mmmm…. I had a skillet meal called Timballo. Very spicy and seriously not heart healthy…pasta, pepperoni, more black olives, peppers, tomatoes, and more cheesy goodness. And they have pretty good tea too.

It was snowing earlier and just as we got back to the hotel the wet roads were freezing up in spots.

Excuse me, I have to go re-tuck a child into bed.

“Eddies in the space-time continuum…”

When I was in junior-high I ran across a book that changed my life.

I was a awkward, fat, maladjusted teen from a broken home living with my Father who was at least attempting some sort of normal childhood for me. I had a bike and a dog and huge seemingly endless wood to explore out back of my grandmothers house and books. I couldn’t get enough books, particularly Fantasy and Science Fiction books of all varieties. Here’s the part where I find the book, thanks for waiting on it. It wasn’t the Bible even though the radical change that wrought in me is indescribable.

It was “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.”

Not exactly a deep theological tome as Douglas Adams was an athiest. The mere concept of aliens blowing up the Earth would probably send a theolog in so many directions at once he might never get his tongue un-knotted. But I loved this book and the idea that a dork like Arthur Dent could be a hero in any situation. Here’s what I mean:

“Are we talking about,” he asked cautiously, “some sort of Vogon laundromat, or what are we talking about?”
“Eddies,” said Ford, “in the space-time continuum.”
“Ah,” nodded Arthur, “is he. Is he.”
“What?” said Ford.
“Er, who,” said Arthur, “is Eddy, then, exactly, then?”
Ford looked angrily at him.
“Will you listen?” he snapped.
“I have been listening,” said Arthur, “but I’m not sure it’s helped.”

See? Dork through and through.

The point is that my world was fairly dark and dismal at that point but God sent this book my way so I could have a little laughter. I read the Bible too. I read it quite a bit and I was pretty familiar with it for a 12, 13, 14 year old but these others gave me a fresh perspective. Something to think about besides getting my butt whipped in basketball six or eight times a week.

Here’s what I mean. On down toward the end of this discussion Ford is having with Arthur we see that Ford finally gives up and says to Arthur, “Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple.” and even Arthur has the sense to reply as follows:

“Ah, well, I’m not sure I believe that.”

Even he has it figured out that nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Word of the Day: evangescript

Joe Thorn vivisects our Southern Baptist evangelistic tendencies. Its about time someone did. ‘Evangescript’…I’m probably going to chuckle about that one all day.

And its not just suburbia either its pretty well all of America that’s sick of the pitch.

Non-Christmas Posts in Mark

I’ve been working on my series I’m planning to do in Mark and I came up with some really good ideas for non-Christmas posts on the verses in Mark. Then I forgot them and it made me sad because those would have been some really good posts. Truly though, thats absurd because all of the verses in Mark are non-Christmas. The book starts with Jesus Baptism. So I’ve essentially torpedoed myself before I even began.

Not that I’m very concerned about this but the truth of the matter is that it means more Bible study. I am going to have to work up some things to do between Christmas and Jesus Baptism now. There was plenty. There was John’s “In the beginning…” passage which takes the eternity of Christ into account. There’s the part where Mary goes to visit her cousin and John the baby jumps in the presence of his Savior and Lord. Could it be that John even unborn was more mature than some Christians I know? There’s always the time Jesus stayed back to teach in the temple when he was 12. Or…well, you get the idea.

I’m open to suggestions at this point.

LIVE!

Joe Thorn live photoblog’s NOT going to the Southern Baptist Convention this year. Its too funny.