Thoughts on blogging. And music I like. Random.?!
I realize that it has been a super-duper long time since I have posted a blog. This is due to several things, none of which are valid excuses to not post a blog, but honestly, the main reason is that I simply have not felt like blogging lately.
I started this blog on a whim to see if it was something I would enjoy. I intend to keep blogging, but I struggle to find things to blog about. (How many times can I cram the word “blog” or “blogging” into a blog? We’ll see.)
My last few blog posts (except for the blog stews) have been serious, academic-sounding, and scathing. I don’t know why this is. I’m not generally a serious, academic, or scathing person (although my wife might have a few thoughts of her own on that). I don’t want this site to be just a theological or political blog, but I don’t want it to be random-palooza either. Where am I going with all these thoughts? I don’t know.
So, in seeming contradiction to myself, here is a random list of music that I have been enjoying lately.
I have recently developed a real fondness for this band. They are classified as Indie Folk. When I first listened to them, I wasn’t too impressed. Mainly because of the lead singer, Charlie Fink’s voice. The more I listen to them, the more I like them-to the point that I would now call them one of my favorite bands. Their music ranges from playful to serious, but to me, it is always relaxing and enjoyable, and I can’t get enough of it lately.
The first time I heard this band, I loved their music. They are an Indie Rock band from Scotland. Their melodies are haunting and catchy at the same time. Lead singer Scott Hutchison’s voice compliments their style. They remind me a bit of Arcade Fire.
I discovered this band via Pandora, my favorite online music site. Their music is instrumental rock. They use loops and a lot of effects with bass, drums, and electric guitar. Great stuff. I never thought I would enjoy instrumental music, but I’m glad I gave this band a chance.
A friend of mine once said to me “Man, you need to check out this Icelandic band. Their lyrics are all in Icelandic, but they’re awesome!” Understandably, I was skeptical. I’m so glad I was too worried about hurting his feelings to say “no”. This band has set up residence in my regular listening playlist. According to the band’s own description, they are an Icelandic slow-motion rock band. Their music is so unlike anything I have heard that I hesitate to try and put them in a genre. Their melodies are ethereal, haunting, and beautiful. Their lead singer, Jónsi Birgisson, uses his voice as an instrument to compliment their songs, not as a focal point of the music. Check it out. It’s great driving music.
Over the last few weeks/months, my musical tastes have changed. I typically like modern rock, worship, and alternative music. Lately, I have been gravitating toward the above mentioned type of music. Permanent change? I don’t know. It has been a subject of interest to me however.
How many times did I use the words “blog” or “blogging”? 12 times. sigh. I need a Thesaurus.
I’m about to do something I swore I wouldn’t do…
…on this blog. I swore I wouldn’t get political. When I was pondering starting a blog and thinking about what subjects I could possibly write about, I knew one thing. I would not write about politics.
I’m about to break that rule.
Arizona’s recent Immigration law has raised quite a bit of controversy. The proposed bill has been called racist, unfair, and has even been compared to Nazi Germany.
Really? Nazi’s? C’mon.
While I can understand that there are strong feelings on both sides, let’s look past the name-calling and do some research.This article explains what is exactly in the bill.
For those not interested in reading an article explaining a law, basically, the law gives police the right to ask anyone that they suspect to be illegal to produce papers proving that they are in this country legally. The law writers were careful to make sure the law is Constitutional and would hold up in court. And for that, they are Nazi’s?
I admit, I’m a idealist. I tend to see things in black and white. I hate cheating, injustice, and law breakers. I follow the rules. And I hate it when other people don’t. When my family and I play a board game at home, I’m the rule-monitor. I make sure everyone is following the rules. I have even been known to end a game that has featured cheating. When my wife and I watch a reality show and a contestant skirts the rules, I feel indignation arising within me, especially if that person gets away with it. When I play a video game that allows me to choose the good path or the evil path, I always choose the righteous path. I know, I have a problem.
Needless to say, when I look at the situation in Arizona and the backlash over this law, I get angry.
Opponents of this law are outraged that Arizona has the audacity to uphold immigration laws that have been in place since the 1940′s. After all, we can’t infringe on the liberties of the aliens. Really? What about the liberties of legal citizens? What about the financial strain on the citizens of a state that is struggling to keep up with the costs of providing free health care, schooling, welfare, and food stamps to illegal immigrants?
I read an article written by a legal immigrant from Russia that deals with this issue. It’s worth a read. In it, he draws the following comparison:
…when a person goes into a bank with a check and receives cash for it, that person follows the legal and proper procedure for obtaining money; however, when a person robs a bank with a gun, that person, too, has received cash, but by way of committing an illegal act. Both individuals leave the bank with money, however, one is a law abiding citizen while the other is a criminal.
To me, this is at the heart of the immigration issue. Law breakers are in this country demanding the same rights-and sometimes more rights-than legal, tax paying citizens. How is that logical?
“But Arizona needs the manual laborers” … They’re breaking the law.
“But they have homes here” … They’re breaking the law.
“But they do pay taxes” … They’re breaking the law. To me, it’s very simple. If these people want to go through the process of becoming a legal citizen, great! Awesome. Welcome to America.
This article brings up some very good points that are written and articulated better than I could do. Here is a small snippet:
Here we have Barack Obama, a man who is a duly elected commander in chief of the greatest country on the planet, who swore to uphold the Constitution, which provides for protection of the states from invasion. And what does he have to say about Arizona’s burdened citizens? He called them misguided and announced an intent to protect illegal aliens’ civil rights. What about the constitutional rights of American citizens?
I’ll say it again. I’m angry. Okay Chris. Calm down, count to ten. Take deep breaths…
Blog Stew (5/1)
It’s time for another issue of Blog Stew. Here are some interesting stories from around the interwebz this past week.
Video game movies that don’t stink – Movies that are adapted from video games are notoriously bad. This is a sad fact. Kotaku (my favorite video game blog) has compiled a list of movies that have video games as a plot element.
Create a digital newspaper of your tweets – For those who use and enjoy Twitter, this link is pretty cool. The website formats your Twitter timeline into a digital newspaper, complete with Headlines. Pretty cool.
These pictures and videos of the sun – Are amazing.
An amazing smartphone-powered Rube Goldberg machine – Vodaphone Italy has put together a pretty cool video of a Rube Goldberg machine that must have been fun to make.
The lazy person’s lawnmower – If you have a self-propelled lawn mower and some ingenuity, you never have to work again. Nice.
See what Facebook publicly publishes about you – In light of the recent attention from changes to Facebook’s privacy settings, Lifehacker has posted a useful article that explains how to find out how much of your info Facebook makes available on the web.
Of Faith and Homosexuality
Recently, I was saddened to hear the news that Christian recording artist Jennifer Knapp is now in a same-sex relationship. I wasn’t saddened because I believe that homosexuality is worse than any other sin, but I was saddened to see a Christian live in public, unrepentant sin.
Her debut album, Kansas, was, and still is, one of my favorite Christian albums of all time. Beyond the great music, the lyrics of the album unashamedly speak Biblical truth. One of my favorites is “Faithful to Me”.
Recently, Jennifer was on Larry King Live talking about the issue of her now public homosexuality, along with a couple of pastors, Bob Botsford and Ted Haggard. You can watch the interview and read the transcript here.
Throughout the interview, Jennifer seems to try to make the point that there’s no contradiction with being a Christian and being homosexual, as if homosexuality isn’t a sin. (We see multiple times in Scripture where homosexuality is a sin: 1 Cor. 6:9; Lev. 18:22; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Tim. 1:10 just to name a few) In the same interview, in seeming contradiction to herself, she seems to dwell on the “Homosexuality isn’t any worse of a sin than any others” argument. I agree with that argument. What I don’t agree with is the assumption that any unrepentant sin is okay with God.
A big part of this argument is that Conservative Evangelicals are sometimes accused of singling out homosexuality as “more grievous” or “worse” than other sins. That’s usually not the case. (There are always exceptions) The problem is that there are those who would claim that homosexuality is not a sin, and furthermore, a person can be an active, practicing homosexual and be “okay” with God. This is contrary with Scripture.
What if all the adulterers suddenly decided to “go public” and announce that they were in a loving adulterous relationship and we should accept it, and the scriptures we use as evidence that adultery is wrong are taken out of context, or don’t apply? After all, this is how God made them, and they need to be true to who they are. If that were the case, the Church (hopefully) would decisively and publicly denounce this behavior, calling it a sin. I’m not trying to equate all homosexuals with adulterers, I’m just trying to make a point. (The Bible does, however, call both homosexuality and adultery sexual immorality)
Issues like this are where (most) Conservative Evangelicals take offense, and are subsequently labeled as judgmental. (But that’s another post for another time)
Here is a blog post that brings some interesting points up about this argument.
I’m saddened that there is so much anger on both sides of this issue. I think the Church would do well to heed the words of Paul to the Ephesians and “speak the truth in love…”. After all, we are simply sinners saved by the grace of a loving God.
I came across this story…
…today as I was reading my news website. I’ve changed the names and taken out some of the geographic details. My changes are in brackets. This is a pretty disturbing story.
Homeless good Samaritan left to die on NYC street
NEW YORK – The homeless man lay face down, unmoving, on the sidewalk outside an apartment building, blood from knife wounds pooling underneath his body.
One person passed by in the early morning. Then another, and another. Video footage from a surveillance camera shows at least seven people going by, some turning their heads to look, others stopping to gawk. One even lifted the homeless man’s body, exposing what appeared to be blood on the sidewalk underneath him, before walking away.
It wasn’t until after the [Good Samaritan] had been lying there for nearly an hour that emergency workers arrived, and by then, it was too late. [The homeless man] — who police said was stabbed while intervening to help a woman being attacked — had died.
“I think it’s horrific,” said [a local teacher], who teaches at a school across the street from where [the man] died. “I think people are just afraid to step in; they don’t want to get involved; who knows what their reasons are?”
[The Good Samaritan] was walking behind a man and a woman [in New York] around 6 a.m. when the couple got into a fight that became physical, according to police, who pieced together what happened from surveillance footage and interviews with area residents.
[The Good Samaritan] was stabbed several times when he intervened to help the woman, an NYPD spokesman said. She and the other man fled in different directions, and [the Good Samaritan] pursued the man before collapsing. Authorities are searching for the man and woman.
A 911 call of a woman screaming came in around 6 a.m., but when officers responded to the address that was given, no one was there, police said. Another call came in around 7 a.m., saying a man was lying on the street, but gave the wrong address. Finally, around 7:20 a.m., someone called 911 to report a man had possibly been stabbed at [the correct address].
Police and firefighters arrived a few minutes later to find [the Good Samaritan] dead. Officials say they’re not sure whether the man was still alive when passers-by opted not to help him.
Residents who regularly pass by the same stretch of sidewalk, in a working-class neighborhood of low-rise apartment buildings and fast food restaurants near a busy boulevard, were unnerved by the way [the man] died. “Is anybody human anymore?” asked [a local resident], visiting her grandmother at a nearby building. “What’s wrong with humanity?”
In the urban environment, it’s not unusual to see people on the street, sleeping or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
But even assuming the person they’ve just passed is drunk, instead of injured, is no reason not to notify authorities, said another teacher at the school. He remembered calling an ambulance when seeing a man who appeared to be homeless on the street, with a beer bottle near by.
He called 911, he said, because “I felt it wasn’t my job to figure out if the person was drunk or actually hurt.”
“I just think that’s horrible, whether you’re homeless or not,” [a local resident] said. “He’s a human being; he needs help.”
-By DEEPTI HAJELA
This story is disturbing on several levels. Another report said that people walked by or even stopped to stare but not call for help. One man even pulled out his camera to take a picture, but didn’t bother to pull out a phone.
Sounds familiar, no? In Luke 10:30-35 we see a strikingly similar story, only in the Luke version, the Samaritan fares a bit better than the would-be good citizen in the present day version. Jesus’ words are very pertinent here when he says “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” – Lk. 10:27 (emphasis mine)
Even then, the men listening to Jesus tried to find a loophole by asking “Who is my neighbor”? Sometimes we tend to think that today people are more hard-hearted, as if we’ve gotten less caring as a people over time. But we see in Luke that even in Jesus’ day, the men were trying to find an easy way around Jesus’ command to care for others as much as we care for ourselves.
The problem is sin, and it’s been around since the fall. We’re all born into it, and we all succumb to it. The key is to not let it be your master.
I am thankful for a merciful God. But I’m sad when we don’t show His mercy and love to others.
Blog Stew (4/26)
I decided to start a feature here at Converge called “Blog Stew”. I read a lot of blogs, and often I come across several posts that I think are cool. In Blog Stew, I’ll list a few of my favorites. I admit, I took the idea from other blogs, but I think it’s neat, so there.
So, without further ado, I give you Blog Stew.
How to unclog a toilet – The folks over at DIY Life have put together a great post on how to unclog a pesky toilet, a skill that everyone will need sooner or later in life. I’ll admit, I learned a few things from this post.
Combine binder clips and magnets for easy cable access – I’m a huge fan of Lifehacker. So much so that the inaugural Blog Stew features two posts from them. Here’s another great, simple idea for computer cable management.
iPad: The most awesomely average device in human history? – Tim Challies thinks so in his pretty extensive review of the device.
Turn your garbage-bound leftovers into a delicious dish – Once again the folks at Lifehacker have found some cool info that you need to know in order to be a better human.
Make your own shaving cream – This one is for the guys. I have recently discovered the joys of applying shaving cream with a brush rather than using a can. This post tells you how to make your own brush-applied cream on the cheap. It’s easier than you think.
Have I ever told you…
About the time I actually trapped a possum? No? Well sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…
Some time ago, my wife and I noticed some water leaking down the wall in our house. Little did we know that this would soon set off a chain of events that would send me careening toward a showdown with a wild animal. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
We figured out that the water was coming from the upstairs air conditioning unit, and we wisely called the air conditioner repairman. He came to the house at 4:30 in the afternoon (which is smart, because then he can knock off really soon and be all like “well, it’s quittin’ time”…), and couldn’t find what he was looking for, so he needed to get into the attic to see if he could find whatever it was that he was looking for. As he was moving the square of ceiling out of the way to stick his head into the attic, he kind of jumped and jerked his hand back. I had no idea what happened. I thought maybe he hurt his hand or something, and not wanting to insult his manhood, decided not to say anything. Then he looked at me with this weird accusing look, and said “You got a huge possum up there. He almost bit me.”
Well, understandably, I really didn’t know how to respond to that statement. It’s not everyday that you have a wild, possibly rabid animal almost bite a guest in your home. The air conditioning guy was looking at me like I was supposed to do something, so I did what any red-blooded American man would do. I called the city animal control. They basically said that they wouldn’t come. Of course. Why would animal control come to remove a wild animal from a citizen’s house? So I called several pest-control places, but since it was like 6:00 by then (great thinking air conditioning guy), no one would come. Luckily, one of the pest-control guys told me to get a trap and put cat food in it. I wonder how he stays in business if he tells everyone the tricks of his trade?
So our good friends David and Angie helped us get a trap and set it in the attic (David and I were kinda scared to stick our heads up in there, but our womenfolk were watching, so we acted brave). The next morning I gingerly stuck my head up the hole to find the “huge” possum huddled in the corner of the cage. In reality, it was about the size of a small cat. My next challenge was to get the cage with an angry/scared possum in it down out of a really small hole in the ceiling without getting bitten or urinated on. Thankfully I was successful on both counts. My friend Brian came with his pickup and we took the possum to “the wild” as my daughter called it. It was about half a mile outside the city limits in reality. He happily scampered off, but not before threatening to bite me.
I arrived home that afternoon relieved, tired, and pretty satisfied with myself. I then realized that I had trapped one of two possums. And I would have to do it all one more time. I suddenly felt a lot less sure of myself. I actually considered leaving the other possum in the attic, thinking that since it had lost its partner/friend/roommate, it might just leave. No such luck. So I did it all again.
All in all, it was a successful hunt. I ended the ordeal feeling like a legitimate man. I felt connected in a strange way to the men of old, the men who had carved our country out of the wilderness. The men who looked death in the face and scoffed. Kind of like Daniel Boone or something. I mean, I didn’t wrestle a grizzly or anything, but it was a wild animal, and my life could have been in danger. Well, maybe not my life, but possibly my pride, and that’s just as important. Right?
