What I'm Reading and Watching

First of all, I'm trying to do more of the former and less of the latter... so I'm going to try to make this post sound like I'm doing a LOT of reading and very little TV watching- hardly any. Here's my best shot at it...

"The Online Looking Glass": Ross Douthat is my favorite editorialist. This article is prophetic, and something I have to think about all the time. Why do we feel the need to blog, post our thoughts and pictures online for the world to see? It can lead to the dark place of narcissism.

"Miami Heat Needs to Work on Their People Skills": I'm one of the "billions" that enjoyed watching the Heat lose Sunday night. But why? Mike Lopresti has a good take.

"The Reason for God": This is one of those books that I'm ashamed I haven't read yet. Speaking of prophetic, there's a reason God has put his favor all over Tim Keller's writings and ministry. He's worth hearing.

Team of Rivals: I'll be reading this book for awhile...

"Mere Christianity": This won't be the last time I talk about reading and (currently) listening to this book by C.S. Lewis. Next to the Bible, this is my most frequented book. Writing about it is my way of prodding you to take and read, not throwing out the excuse "I read it once back in college."

"Revelation: God Wins" (itunes podcast or website): Speaking of what I'm listening to... My partner's bro, Bob Thune Jr., just finished rocking this series on Revelation. People ask about my view on Revelation and end times... Bob articulates them in his journey through Revelation with his church, Coram Deo. Revelation is cyclical, allegorical, and as much about the past (the cross) as the future. As GK Chesterton said, "And though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators." God won, and he will win. God wins. We were going to teach through this at Veritas this fall, but I think we're headed for Luke's two books this fall and spring...

Samuel and the Epistles: I'm reading the ESV in a year. I'm not loving the ESV, mostly because it doesn't follow the most natural lingual paths. On the other hand, it's more literal translation colors in certain parts of the text. For example, this morning in Colossians 2:18 the ESV uses "asceticism" where the NIV uses "false humility." An argument could be made for either word choice, but I hadn't heard "asceticism" used before in that passage and it seemed to help me understand what Paul was conveying. Next year I think I'm going to give the Holman translation a shot.

Joshua 6 and related commentaries: I'm preaching on the fall of Jericho this week at Veritas. Last week Jeff took one for the team, taking on the issue of circumcision in Joshua 5.

Now to the candy section of life- what I've been watching:

I just subscribed to FreddeGredde's youtube channel thanks to Todd Wallace's twitter post.

Ryan Seiler's "Greener" music video

Sarah Palin's explanation of Paul Revere. That's just plain sad; enough to end someone's political career.

I recorded the Republican debate last night but I'm not sure if I'll get around to watching it. I'm a little jaded when it comes to politics right now, but I know I should be informed and prayerful for our leaders and country.

Truth be told, the reason for less tv watching is seasonal. NBA finals are over, who cares about baseball until late September?, and we have a 3 month lull until kickoff of college/NFL football.

For now, I'll get back to pretending I like to read more than watch tv...

Go Rick!

This interview in Christianity Today (click here) is one more reason I love Rick Warren. The dude has such a high "get it" factor.

A prophet speaks out

This is amazing. Not amazing as in funny, but prophetic. Listen to John Piper's perspective on the election (it was recorded before the election, but every bit as applicable) by clicking here.

There are times you hear someone and think, "I'm in the presence of a modern day prophet." After watching this clip, I had that thought. (I first had that encounter after hearing him speak at the first Passion conference in '97). His book Desiring God was the framework for a Copernican revolution of my thinking about God my sophomore year of college.

John Piper, wherever you are, thanks for what I believe is a prophetic utterance here. (and props to Andy and Jeff for passing this clip onto me...)

Videos and Voting

Video: I'm a lo-tech person, but it doesn't take a com-sci major to see how ridiculous this technology is...click here. I can't even imagine the implications of this.

Video: While in Omaha, Beck saw one of my friend's surf boards and wanted to see what it was like. So we went to youtube and found this. Cameron said, "That surfer is brave." I'm not sure "brave" is the operative word here. Maybe "stupid" is more fitting. I'm still having a hard time believing the authenticity of this video...





Vote: Get out and vote. If that's not compelling enough for you, listen to Chuck Colson's plug to vote: click here (then click "listen now")

Politics as usual, unless you're a "Maverick"

This was hilarious, the best political parody yet. Click here to see the Biden-Palin debate from SNL.

I'm as skeptical as I've ever been about politics. Neither side fires me up. So I fully enjoyed the humor of this, without thinking, "Hey, that's not fair...I like that person."

I'd be interested to know, from those of you with strong political convictions, to hear how you're voting this election and why.

The Economy

This is a well written and accessible take on our economical "situation" (click here). Thanks, Chris, for posting the link to this.

Mowing, Kid Sports, Politics and Prophecies

Mowing: I mowed my "lawn" today. With a weed eater.

Kids in Sports: I saw a couple dads at the grocery store tonight. They had their kids with them, fully decked out in their soccer uniforms. I think it's cool the dads were with their kids.

But despite the cultural pressure, our kids are not playing sports at such a young age. It's a big hassle. I'm not sure why people feel the need to join the rat race of athletics. Jesus didn't have little league. It's amazing he turned out (props to Voddie Baucham for pointing this out). I'm sure if our kids don't love Jesus we'll know why...

Politics: This political season has caused me to grow more and more cynical. Leatha asked me the other day if we were going to put up a sign in our yard. I'm not sure why, but I just don't want to (I'm not implying that she did...). Maybe it's because I don't ever want to be identified by a political party. I think it could become a barrier to representing Christ. I'm not dogging those of you with signs. Or those of you that are passionate about politics. But let every sign be a reminder to pray for the reign of Christ (i.e. Lord's prayer)

Prophecy: My dad said there's a prophecy circulating about America. I think the gist of it is that with all of the natural disasters, attacks (wtc), financial implosion- God is bringing judgment on America and the future is not bright.

My first response is to do my best to obey 1 Thess. 5:20 "do not treat prophecies with contempt." My second response is to struggle with treating the prophecy with contempt.

First of all, if this is true, which it very well could be, what will change about my life? What if we lost everything? How would poverty affect our family? Me personally? I will still pray the Lord's prayer a lot. Maybe more often. My family would be forced to a greater dependence on the Father. That could do nothing but bear good fruit in us. So I conclude, "God, if this is true, humble me and help me to grow in dependence on you so that if we lose everything it will mean nothing to me, since I'm already dead to the world and alive to Jesus."

My second response: I think these prophecies smack of American ethnocentrism. How many natural disasters, financial devastations, terrorist attacks, wars, etc have other nations faced in the last week? Has God brought judment on them? Go ask the Sudanese what they think about this prophecy, "You lost your home? Me too. It was bulldozed 9 years ago. So now I live in this refugee tent with my family- what's left of them." As Christians, suffering is what we're used to. Endurance is what we're trained for.

Wall Street has a bad week and out come the prophets sending out spam.

But it might not be spam. It might be for real. Either way, "God, let your kingdom come."