You are invited.Talking to, remembering, worshiping, and meditating on Jesus.
Come check it out, everyone is welcome.
Pass on the invitation.
Friday August 26th.
Drop in anytime between 7.30pm & 9.30pm.
If you are in
CLICK HERE to email me for directions.
The stampede erupted Tuesday when a crowd estimated at 5,500 showed up at the Richmond International Raceway to purchase 1,000 used Apple iBook laptop computers. The
"I could not move, I could not breathe," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost one of her flip-flops in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare. "This is total, total chaos."
Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene. People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.
Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she wet herself.
Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests, and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.
This “Cult of MAC” thing is getting out of hand!!! All you MAC people are crazy! MadCow even had a contest to name her new laptop recently!!! I get it, you like your computer, but this is getting a little creepy!
In other Apple news… It appears that Apple will have to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for each ipod that they manufacture! When Apple was developing the ipod someone leaked information to Microsoft and that sneaky little bastard Bill Gates beat ‘em to the patent office by two months. The patent office has ruled that Microsoft has the right to charge a licensing fee for each ipod made. Apple is appealing the decision. The licensing fee would be around $10 per ipod. Apple sold 18 million ipods in the last year. OUCH!!!
Apple is totally trying to take over the world with this ipod thing. I’ll give them this though, they’ve come a long way since the very first version of the ipod…
But now they’ve got an “Apple” version of everything. For example, they’ve got the ipod image, so you can view pictures. Then they recently came out with these nifty goggles that will let you view your image in stereo!!
They have the Apple “i Vacuum”. I had no idea that they were interested in getting into the home appliance market!
And last but certainly not least……
THE IPOD BRA!!!
AWESOME!!!
I read this article and wanted to share it with you. It’s got some great points about the technique that Jesus told his followers to use when sharing the gospel.
Hunter or Angler?
When Jesus called a crusty fisherman by the name of Peter to become a disciple, he promised that he would become a "fisher of men.” Throughout my Christian life, I have heard that same analogy used to describe the process of leading people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Sometime ago, however, I realized that when presenting the Gospel to many people, I approached it more like I was hunting than fishing. This, in spite of the fact that nowhere does the Bible say to be "hunters of men.”
You see, my approach was to "load my gospel gun” lay in wait or sneak up on someone and then blast away in a rather rapid-fire way, expecting them to understand their need, comprehend what God had done for them, trust me enough to believe that I wasn't crazy, respond to the Holy Spirit's invitation and believe on Christ as Lord and Savior in a matter of minutes. Indeed much of my emphasis was on locating my "prey” delivering my "message" and bagging my conquest. It really was quite foolish, if not unbiblical.
Growing up in the
Fishing however, requires much more finesse. One scouts the prime locations, hopes for good weather conditions, checks the wind, selects bait and equipment thoughtfully, prepares the hook carefully and then often waits patiently. There’s a lot of strategy and care in the process. Some days you'll go all day without a nibble. Other days you bring home a full stringer. Some fish bite and leave. Some chomp and stay. It's really quite different than hunting.
Now I realize that soul-winning and hunting and fishing analogies have their limitations, and I don't want to stretch a comparison to a ridiculous extent. At the same time, I became convicted upon thinking of my own approach to telling others about Christ that I should be more of a fisherman and less of a hunter.
I wonder how many times I frightened people away from the Gospel message because I was too brash, too impatient, too self-absorbed and in the end, I missed my chance to be God's agent in drawing a person to Himself.
I'm thinking of several times when had I been gentler, kinder, prepared the “bait” more carefully that I'm sure I could have been a more effective ambassador for the Gospel.
By Dan Burrell
In the Trinity Tribune
Brother Roger, the founder of the Ecumenical Taize Community was killed during an evening prayer service Tuesday evening August 16, 2005.
CLICK HERE for coverage at the San Francisco Chronicle
CLICK HERE for coverage at the INTL. HERALD TRIBUNE
CLICK HERE for coverage at BBC
CLICK HERE for the Taize Community site
I recently went to a wedding at a church I used to go to. Katie and I kept remarking that it was like a class reunion, so-and-so got fatter, what’s-his-face went bald and so on, and so forth. It’s been several years since we’ve been back and it was really weird to see all the faces from the past.
What struck me about the conversations that I had were how overly aggressive the people were. They asked questions in rapid fire mode. "What have you done for the Lord lately?" "What church are you going to?" "Does your ministry move in the prophetic?" "We’re selling everything and moving several states away to follow the prophetic leading of the Lord… Do you still have the same old job here in town? Oh, hmmm, that's nice I guess."
They shook their head slowly with a sad little frown when they found out that we were no longer with the same denomination. They freaked out when someone would point out that I had a tattoo. Someone made a joke about a local bar, and there were looks of shock and horror when I said that I had been there and it wasn’t really that bad.
I’m sure they’re having prayer meetings about it right now.
I was hanging out at a music store the other day. Business was slow, and there were just a few customers milling about, playing guitars, or banging on drums. Music stores are generally a pretty casual work environment and the employees were walking around with coffee and chatting with each other. It was a nice mellow start to the day.
Then I overheard one of the employees spewing hatred. I could not believe the evil, hateful things this man was saying.
He was talking to one of his coworkers, and his back was to me so he didn’t see me walk up right behind him. He was saying, “You know who I hate? I hate those f*cking Jews. You can’t f*cking trust them, you can’t do business with them. Those g*d damned Jews are just pieces of sh*t as far as I’m concerned. I f*cking hate them.”
At this point he realizes that I am standing a few feet away hearing his little tirade and turns around kind of sheepishly.
I smiled real big, stuck out my right hand to shake his and proclaimed loudly, “SHALOM!!!”. He looked like he had seen a ghost. I said, “Hi, my name is Asa Goldstein.” Now he looked like he needed to change his shorts. He couldn’t say anything, he just stood there. I let him hang in suspense for a moment before I let him know I was just messing with him. He looked a little relieved, but definitely still shaken.
Hopefully next time he’ll keep his prejudice to himself.
Obadiah wanted to try to play it so badly. He asked us every single time we went to the store. Katie and I had decided that we would go ahead and let him try. He would play it once, lose his 50 cents, suffer pain, humiliation, and heartbreak, and never ask us to play again. That was the plan. So, he begs us to play, I grab two quarters and tell him, “knock yourself out man!”
Wouldn’t you know it, first shot, nails it, and wins the ugliest fluorescent pink/fluorescent green stuffed crocodile!!!
Katie and I stare at each other, shocked and dismayed, feigning excitement for our son’s good fortune. At this point the entire checkout area has stopped all activity to look at the young man clinging to the fluorescent crocodile and cheering quite loudly “I WON!!! I WON!!!”
I turn to Katie and the cashier and wonder aloud, “Has anyone ever won anything from that game on the first shot?” As the cashier is shaking her head Katie bursts out with some comic brilliance, “Maybe a 40 year old CARNIE!!! HA HA HA!!!” I laugh along as I nervously scan the checkout line for twitching, overly tan, 40 year olds with armloads of Sudafed.
As we walked away from the cashier Katie was laughing aloud both at her joke and at my nervous reaction to her joke. When we got home I saw from a flyer we got in the mail that the county fair had indeed started. So, may I point out that it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility that a 40 year old carnie could be in the checkout line at Safeway!
Anyway, a few days later we went to the fair and had a great time! It was wristband night so Obadiah got to ride all the rides he could stomach for one low fee. 
The cows were a little stinky but other than that we had a great time. The boys loved the rides. We spun until we came within inches of tossing our cookies.
We even saw real, live, overly tan, twitching, carnies talking to themselves, and lighting one cigarette from the stub of the previous one… ad nauseam.
We also saw a rockstar!!!
I’ve seen this guy around town quite a bit, so apparently he lives in Santa Rosa. I’d seen him several times and each time told Katie, “I’m pretty sure that guy’s a famous rockstar, or actor or something.”
Turns out he’s both.
Katie told me I was full of crap when I thought I recognized him. But I was positive I had seen him on TV or movies and I was pretty sure his name was Tom Waits. I told her I would google him when we got home and take a look at the pictures to determine if it was him. As soon as the google image page finished loading there was no denying it, it was definitely him!
Tom Waits is a Grammy award winning composer/performer, and is an Academy Award nominated Actor. I’ve never been exposed to his music but I know that his influence is huge and his reputation as a songwriter is legendary. You often hear his name mentioned alongside names like And there he was, just chillin’ at the fair. He was running around with his wife, kids, and a few friends. It’s just weird to see someone famous behaving like normal human being. Just like the rest of us.
I guess there’s not really a point to this story. Just that you never know who you’re going to run into. Could be a carnie, could be a rockstar.
PBS recently did a special on the emerging church and alternative worship gatherings. It was a two part series for their Religion & Ethics Newsweekly show. It was pretty interesting. I’ll post the links to the interview transcripts and the videos that were shown on PBS.
Several prominent emergent leaders were interviewed, including two whose blogs I frequent; Doug Pagitt, and
CLICK HERE for part one
Click on, "Video: Watch this story" at the top of the page to view the video.
CLICK HERE for part two
Click on, "Video: Watch this story" at the top of the page to view the video.
Look for the BONUS video which was taped at the 2005 emergent convention. Click on , "Video: What is the emerging church?" about half way down the page in part two.
"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. "
I Corinthians 3.10-13
I've always been taught that this verse was about the Judgment Seat of Christ, the moment of truth, when we are all judged for our deeds in life, good and bad. I always cringed at the thought of being judged by what I had actually done with my life. When the judgment day came my plan was to duck and run, bob and weave, fake left go right, RUN FOR COVER!!! I always had this sense of incredible fear at the thought of God's judgment. I even got a tattoo related to my fear of judgment. I got the Kanji symbol for the word MERCY tattooed on the back of my neck. When people asked I told them, "When I bow before the seat of judgment I just want to give the Lord a friendly reminder to have mercy on me."
Then my thinking on the judgment of God changed. I meditated on that scripture passage and started seeing it in a different light. What it's saying is that the fire of judgment will test all of our works. The things that are good, the things that have everlasting value, those things will last. The things that were bad, the things that only had temporal value; those things will be consumed by the judgment fire. So if the judgment burns up all the things that are bad and only leaves behind all that was good then God's judgment is an act of mercy. What a merciful act to take away all the things that we are ashamed of! My thinking has changed 100%. I went from being deathly afraid of God's judgment, to looking forward to the day when all that is left is the "good stuff", the things of eternal value.
So, since I've been thinking of God's judgment as an act of mercy I've also been thinking of how I could change my tattoo. I no longer felt like I needed to cower at the Judgment Seat. I felt thankful for the promise that all the things that didn't have eternal value would be burnt away. I went to my tattoo artist the other day and had him put flames all around the Kanji of the word "Mercy", symbolizing for me that the Judgment Fire of God is the most merciful thing that we could hope for.
July 10th, 2005
July 24th, 2005
You are invited.
Come for a time of COMMUNION.
Talking to, remembering, worshiping, and meditating on Jesus. It will be a lot different than you expect. Come check it out. Everyone is welcome, pass on the invitation.
Thursday July 28th.
Drop in anytime between 8 & 11 p.m.
If you are in
CLICK HERE to email me for directions to Gina's
CLICK HERE to see pictures from last time.
I Corinthians 10:13
I was driving home with the boys one day recently, after a fun filled day at the park. The truck needed gas so we pulled into the station to fill ‘er up. There was a very attractive young lady on the other side of the pump and she smiled at me when I climbed out of the truck. “That’s nice” I thought, “She seems friendly”. As her car was being filled she walked around the pump and started talking to me. I remember thinking, “I may be crazy, but I’m pretty sure she’s hitting on me!” I was trying to be polite, but I was starting to get really nervous.
It’s really hard to make small talk with someone when they are totally lusting after you!
I felt like a piece of meat. Just kidding.
Anyway, it was a hot day and she was wearing a tiny little sun dress that came up very high on her legs. She kept talking to me as she leaned into her car to grab something. I thought, “Can’t she feel the breeze? Doesn’t she know that everyone here at the gas station can totally see her panties? She has no idea what she’s doing.” And just then she looked back at me over her shoulder and WINKED! I was so shocked when she winked at me that I blurted out “OH MY GOD!!!”
Just then, from the back seat of the truck Obadiah rolls down the tinted window and says, “Daddy, we don’t say ‘God’ unless we’re praying to God or talking about God!”
OH SNAP!!!
As soon as that cheesy ho bag heard a child’s voice coming out of my truck she took off like I was a leper with open sores moving in for nice warm hug. It was frickin’ hilarious! I guess Obadiah was my “way out” on that day.
This is the Mercedes Benz Maybach 57. The height of elegance. Unparalleled luxury. Champagne wishes and caviar dreams. This fine piece of machinery is available only to the elite of the elite. You don't buy this car to drive it. You buy it to be driven. If you can't afford a full time chauffeur, you can't afford this car. Look at the legroom in the backseat! Check out the reclining seats!!! Look at how beautiful the walnut burl is, smell the leather!
As for the price tag, if you need to ask, you can't afford it. For the rest of us curious onlookers who still want to know how much...
The prices start at $300,000.00
Through the rear view mirror I could see that the owner was in the back seat, perched right on the edge, looking about to see who was watching him.
I did what any sensible, God fearing, American man would do.
I BRAKE CHECKED HIM... HARD!!!
Luckily, $300,000.00 will buy you a great brake system and a collision was narrowly avoided. Unfortunately, the owner was temporarily knocked off of his perilous perch on the edge of his seat.
Hmmm, too bad. The poor chauffeur's face turned white, and it looked as if he needed to change his shorts. I laughed pretty hard (This is why I don't do "Christian" bumper stickers).
A while later I was thinking about the amount of money you have to make in order to buy that kind of car. Then I started thinking about what else you could do with that kind of money. Do you know how much good you could accomplish in this world with that kind of cash?
What kind of person do you have to be to indulge in that kind of excess?
Check this out...
Snap your fingers... go on, do it. Now, count slowly to three, and then snap again. Keep on going, count to three, snap, count to three, snap. Keep doing that while you read the rest of this:
Every THREE seconds a child dies of poverty somewhere on this planet.
That's every 3 seconds of every minute of every hour DAY and NIGHT. That's about thirty-thousand children each day. These are preventable deaths. These children are dying because of things like dirty water, no food, no shelter, no medication.
Every 3 seconds.
Doesn't that make you sick? Doesn't that turn your stomach? Don't you wish there were something you could do?
TAKE ACTION!!! Make your voice heard. Sign the declaration at http://www.one.org/, and let
Donate. Give generously to organizations like http://www.oxfamamerica.org/, organizations with a proven track record for making a difference in a real and lasting way.
Pray. Pray that
DO SOMETHING
Several things stood out to me as I flipped through this flyer.
Paradox: 1 : a tenet contrary to received opinion
