After the tragedy of Dr. Tiller and a really, really, bad example of how to be supportive of Pro-Life causes. . . I thought I would post the exact opposite. Here we have a mom who loves her kids and is appalled by "medical advice" that she receives from her doctors. This is really well-written and convicting for where we're at as a culture.
wow
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Suburbs #3
The Suburbs push us towards the sin of isolation.
Beyond the huge houses, cul-de-sacs, small backyards, and automatic garages,. . . with which we isolate ourselves. (those things are a whole different post)
There's also just a lack of identification with a "place".
When you live in a rural town, you say "I'm from podunk, USA" or whatever. You identify yourself with a town. You fight with kids from other towns, you put them down :). You wear your high school letter jacket until you're 26.
I am from such a town, and continue to claim it as my home town. It's where I grew up.
When you're from a city, you also identify yourself with that place. Watching MTV back in the day when they used to have videos on (hmmph, cough , cough) and live shows. The kids would always be yelling out "Philly!!!!" or "NYC!!!". They claim it. They are a part of that community.
I don't think my kids will be yelling "Canyon Creek baby!!!!" (our sub-division) at a t.v. camera one day.
When you live in the burbs you don't identify with a place as much, which is unfortunate.
It's healthy to identify with a place because it humbles you, it connects you with certain people (and perhaps alienates you from others), and when you're far away you still feel "roots" at that place.These are healthy things under the sun, even as the Apostle Paul encourages us to be "citizens of Heaven" as we go through this life.
To identify with a place helps us to stop self-identifying, and helps to kill our individual pride. Of course, this can be replaced with regional pride, which would need to be dealt with,. . . . . but, we're talking about the suburbs. :)
Also, there aren't as many central gathering places in the burbs. There's no city center, places for concerts, events, lectures, parades, etc. . . . You go to the city center for those things. So, we're kind of culturally cut-off from some things in the burbs. (also, a whole nother post)
Now, I live in Erie, CO. . . a small, rural town, and we have a city center, . . .surrounded by 10 miles of suburbs in all directions. My beef with that gets into city planning and sprawl and other things we don't have time for. The best things about Erie, in my opinion, . . happen at the schools and in the town center.
So, isolation happens alot in suburbia . . . .
don't worry, I only have a few of these left :)
Beyond the huge houses, cul-de-sacs, small backyards, and automatic garages,. . . with which we isolate ourselves. (those things are a whole different post)
There's also just a lack of identification with a "place".
When you live in a rural town, you say "I'm from podunk, USA" or whatever. You identify yourself with a town. You fight with kids from other towns, you put them down :). You wear your high school letter jacket until you're 26.
I am from such a town, and continue to claim it as my home town. It's where I grew up.
When you're from a city, you also identify yourself with that place. Watching MTV back in the day when they used to have videos on (hmmph, cough , cough) and live shows. The kids would always be yelling out "Philly!!!!" or "NYC!!!". They claim it. They are a part of that community.
I don't think my kids will be yelling "Canyon Creek baby!!!!" (our sub-division) at a t.v. camera one day.
When you live in the burbs you don't identify with a place as much, which is unfortunate.
It's healthy to identify with a place because it humbles you, it connects you with certain people (and perhaps alienates you from others), and when you're far away you still feel "roots" at that place.These are healthy things under the sun, even as the Apostle Paul encourages us to be "citizens of Heaven" as we go through this life.
To identify with a place helps us to stop self-identifying, and helps to kill our individual pride. Of course, this can be replaced with regional pride, which would need to be dealt with,. . . . . but, we're talking about the suburbs. :)
Also, there aren't as many central gathering places in the burbs. There's no city center, places for concerts, events, lectures, parades, etc. . . . You go to the city center for those things. So, we're kind of culturally cut-off from some things in the burbs. (also, a whole nother post)
Now, I live in Erie, CO. . . a small, rural town, and we have a city center, . . .surrounded by 10 miles of suburbs in all directions. My beef with that gets into city planning and sprawl and other things we don't have time for. The best things about Erie, in my opinion, . . happen at the schools and in the town center.
So, isolation happens alot in suburbia . . . .
don't worry, I only have a few of these left :)
Can't let this one go
Sorry to all of you who are bored when I blog about basketball. . . . . . but I just can't let this one go.
Kobe is a great player. Kobe had alot to do with the Lakers winning 3 straight titles in 2000-2002. Some have said that for his legacy to be complete, he needs to win a title without Shaq to show that he can lead a team all the way to the trophy.
I would agree with that. . .(explanation forthcoming), Shaq has said he's rooting for Kobe to win #4 as well, he's always the consumate sportsman :) .
But, Kobe disagrees that his legacy needs this title and he said yesterday when asked a question about it: "Some folks think Shaq could have won those titles without me. . they're crazy".
Kobe, kobe, kobe. . . . wow, where do I start.
First of all, Yes, Kobe played a big role in those titles. He was not chopped liver on those teams. But, I think Shaq could have done it with a number of other players at the time. Here's a short list, there's more. . . . . Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Allen Iverson, the list goes on. Kobe and Shaq were a great team, but for those years, a few people could have played the "Kobe" role. Kobe is a much better player now than he was then.
In the NBA playoffs from 2000- 2002, here are Shaq's numbers:
1999-00 30.7 .556 15.4
2000-01 30.4 .555 15.4
2001-02 28.5 .529 12.6
That's points per game, field goal percentage and rebounds per game.
Umm, that's ridiculous. Let me give you a hypothetical: If Michael Jordan had won his 6 titles in the 90's with David Robinson or Hakeen Olajuwon, would you say his legacy would be different?
Yes, without a doubt. You don't say,. . . . "wow, Larry Bird would have never won those titles without Kevin McHale" regardless of the truth in that statement, Larry Bird, was without a doubt the best player on all of those teams. . . . same for Jordan. . .
Also, the two blemishes that won't go away are 2004 and 2008 when Kobe was the best player on the floor and could not lead his team to a finals victory. In fact, I'm still not over 2004 when Kobe shot away the series against the Pistons. I could write 6,000 words about that series, but suffice it to say, Shaq put up a 38pt. 15 rb. game in game 4 of that series, a crucial game that the Lakers lost. Kobe continued to hoist contested jumpers throughout the whole series until Detroit hoisted a championship banner, but I digress. Bottom line, when Kobe has been the best player on a team, they haven't won the finals.
Kobe was a great support to Shaq through all the title years. People forget that they also had Ron Harper, Brian Shaw, Glen Rice (underrated), Derek Fisher, and other great players on those teams.
But, Kobe needs to be the best player on a team that wins the finals to be considered in the top 10 all-time players. Shaq dominated the entire league for these 3 years, and Kobe has not yet done the same. We'll see if he can do it in this series. If so, then he gets respect has having LED a team to the finals.
nerd out. . . .
Kobe is a great player. Kobe had alot to do with the Lakers winning 3 straight titles in 2000-2002. Some have said that for his legacy to be complete, he needs to win a title without Shaq to show that he can lead a team all the way to the trophy.
I would agree with that. . .(explanation forthcoming), Shaq has said he's rooting for Kobe to win #4 as well, he's always the consumate sportsman :) .
But, Kobe disagrees that his legacy needs this title and he said yesterday when asked a question about it: "Some folks think Shaq could have won those titles without me. . they're crazy".
Kobe, kobe, kobe. . . . wow, where do I start.
First of all, Yes, Kobe played a big role in those titles. He was not chopped liver on those teams. But, I think Shaq could have done it with a number of other players at the time. Here's a short list, there's more. . . . . Tracy McGrady, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Allen Iverson, the list goes on. Kobe and Shaq were a great team, but for those years, a few people could have played the "Kobe" role. Kobe is a much better player now than he was then.
In the NBA playoffs from 2000- 2002, here are Shaq's numbers:
1999-00 30.7 .556 15.4
2000-01 30.4 .555 15.4
2001-02 28.5 .529 12.6
That's points per game, field goal percentage and rebounds per game.
Umm, that's ridiculous. Let me give you a hypothetical: If Michael Jordan had won his 6 titles in the 90's with David Robinson or Hakeen Olajuwon, would you say his legacy would be different?
Yes, without a doubt. You don't say,. . . . "wow, Larry Bird would have never won those titles without Kevin McHale" regardless of the truth in that statement, Larry Bird, was without a doubt the best player on all of those teams. . . . same for Jordan. . .
Also, the two blemishes that won't go away are 2004 and 2008 when Kobe was the best player on the floor and could not lead his team to a finals victory. In fact, I'm still not over 2004 when Kobe shot away the series against the Pistons. I could write 6,000 words about that series, but suffice it to say, Shaq put up a 38pt. 15 rb. game in game 4 of that series, a crucial game that the Lakers lost. Kobe continued to hoist contested jumpers throughout the whole series until Detroit hoisted a championship banner, but I digress. Bottom line, when Kobe has been the best player on a team, they haven't won the finals.
Kobe was a great support to Shaq through all the title years. People forget that they also had Ron Harper, Brian Shaw, Glen Rice (underrated), Derek Fisher, and other great players on those teams.
But, Kobe needs to be the best player on a team that wins the finals to be considered in the top 10 all-time players. Shaq dominated the entire league for these 3 years, and Kobe has not yet done the same. We'll see if he can do it in this series. If so, then he gets respect has having LED a team to the finals.
nerd out. . . .
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Randomizer
Ok, too much to talk about today. . .here we go.
---The nuggets' season is an unqualified success. That's the best our team has done since the 80's. It remains to be seen if our front office can have as good an off-season. We have some work to do there.
---The Magic were going to beat the Cavs. . they owned them for the whole season. We'll see if any of the same trends continue with the Lakers, whom the Magic also beat twice during the season. Lamar Odom is key. . .
---GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt. It is estimated that many jobs will be lost in the re-structring of GM. Oh, you mean like what would've happened if they would've gone bankrupt??? I don't understand.
---Re: Supreme Court. . . .Judge Sotomayor is a respectable judge. She has ruled favorably on some abortion cases, as a matter of fact. The concern is that her judicial philosophy is fairly liberal (I don't mean liberal in the political sense, . . I mean it in the judicial sense) and not constructionist. So, for the future cases that will come before her, there's not alot of clues on which way she'll go, since she's been fairly independent, and doesn't hold a constructionist view. Her credentials are unquestioned. . her judicial philosophy is where I differ with her.
---Kristian Stanfill and Christy Nockels both have new albums out on Passion's record label, Six Steps. Christy Nockels has been "that girl singing that one song" on all of the Passion albums, and was "Watermark" with her husband, Nathan, for years. She's one of the best singers out there,. . I'm talking Carrie Underwood good. . .(readers of this blog will get that one). Her album sounds great. Kristian, I've followed for many years as he led at Northpoint church in Atlanta. His songs are great, and the album sounds great. He deviates a bit from the Tomlin standard production, which is good,. . . and he's got an edgier voice than Tomlin or Crowder. . . . It seems like Passion is branching out a bit, which is good.
---That reminds me. . . I haven't written at length about the state of the Christian music industry, basically because I feel like it doesn't have much of a future. I think the Nashville party is basically over. Here's an article that talks about many of the current problems. When folks with a record deal are working at Starbucks, it may be time to turn out the lights :).
I think it will be a good thing though. . . . Folks that lean more towards general artistry and edginess will go "secular" and influence the broader world with their art. The artists that want to serve the church, will be able to do just that. That's why Passion has had so much success,. . they're writing songs for the church, to sing at church, by worship teams. The artists whom heart is there will continue to be able to minister as long as they're serving the church.
And again, . . .all of the bands that should've been "secular" a long time ago, will become so. And, this is good. . .we don't need to abandon the general music industry to artists with a secular world view. There are many current Christian artists in mainstream music. Many of the Christian acts that were simply "making money off the church" in my opinion, will be able to use their gifts for the furtherance of the gospel in the wider artistic world, which they should have been doing all along.
The separation will be needed for the business model to work, and I think it's a good thing.
out.
---The nuggets' season is an unqualified success. That's the best our team has done since the 80's. It remains to be seen if our front office can have as good an off-season. We have some work to do there.
---The Magic were going to beat the Cavs. . they owned them for the whole season. We'll see if any of the same trends continue with the Lakers, whom the Magic also beat twice during the season. Lamar Odom is key. . .
---GM should have been allowed to go bankrupt. It is estimated that many jobs will be lost in the re-structring of GM. Oh, you mean like what would've happened if they would've gone bankrupt??? I don't understand.
---Re: Supreme Court. . . .Judge Sotomayor is a respectable judge. She has ruled favorably on some abortion cases, as a matter of fact. The concern is that her judicial philosophy is fairly liberal (I don't mean liberal in the political sense, . . I mean it in the judicial sense) and not constructionist. So, for the future cases that will come before her, there's not alot of clues on which way she'll go, since she's been fairly independent, and doesn't hold a constructionist view. Her credentials are unquestioned. . her judicial philosophy is where I differ with her.
---Kristian Stanfill and Christy Nockels both have new albums out on Passion's record label, Six Steps. Christy Nockels has been "that girl singing that one song" on all of the Passion albums, and was "Watermark" with her husband, Nathan, for years. She's one of the best singers out there,. . I'm talking Carrie Underwood good. . .(readers of this blog will get that one). Her album sounds great. Kristian, I've followed for many years as he led at Northpoint church in Atlanta. His songs are great, and the album sounds great. He deviates a bit from the Tomlin standard production, which is good,. . . and he's got an edgier voice than Tomlin or Crowder. . . . It seems like Passion is branching out a bit, which is good.
---That reminds me. . . I haven't written at length about the state of the Christian music industry, basically because I feel like it doesn't have much of a future. I think the Nashville party is basically over. Here's an article that talks about many of the current problems. When folks with a record deal are working at Starbucks, it may be time to turn out the lights :).
I think it will be a good thing though. . . . Folks that lean more towards general artistry and edginess will go "secular" and influence the broader world with their art. The artists that want to serve the church, will be able to do just that. That's why Passion has had so much success,. . they're writing songs for the church, to sing at church, by worship teams. The artists whom heart is there will continue to be able to minister as long as they're serving the church.
And again, . . .all of the bands that should've been "secular" a long time ago, will become so. And, this is good. . .we don't need to abandon the general music industry to artists with a secular world view. There are many current Christian artists in mainstream music. Many of the Christian acts that were simply "making money off the church" in my opinion, will be able to use their gifts for the furtherance of the gospel in the wider artistic world, which they should have been doing all along.
The separation will be needed for the business model to work, and I think it's a good thing.
out.
Suburbia #2
Everyone loved the first one. . . .so here we go. :)
Suburbia pushes you towards the sin of idolizing your children.
If you want to hear a good message about this, check out Matt Chandler from last month here. (as well as the funniest Star Wars reference in a sermon I've ever heard :) )
Again, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but for some reason, those of us in the suburbs tend to idolize our children. We are competitive with them in sports, academics, and skills (my kid just did all of the ABC's and he's 6 months old!! ) . We tend to do what they want, and since kids don't have a good filter yet about how many things they should be involved in, we truck them around to 2 different soccer teams, swimming lessons, camp, afterschool art class, etc. . . .It gets rather insane.
In rural areas it seems that kids view themselves more as a part of a family and a needed help to get things done (i.e. helping on the farm, helping take care of a larger family).
In urban areas I think kids are more humbled by the size of their community and identify themselves more with the city, and they gain some balance from that. More on that in a future post
Our kids need us to set boundaries for them and to absolutely not use them for our own advantage. (i.e., the competitive bragging thing mentioned earlier). Our kids need discipline and structure to their life. They need us to not cave to what they want and change the vision of our family to suit what their friends are telling them. If they spend the ages of 5-11 staring at the back of a seat in a mini-van,. . always on the way to some activity. . . we've done something wrong.
We're teaching our kids what is most important and most ultimate by what we allow them to do, and how quick we are to take on a new activity, t.v. show, buy a new toy, cater to them. . . .we're teaching them what's important when we do those things.
None of the activities mentioned above are wrong in themselves. . . we just need some discernment. Again, the numerous options placed before us in the suburbs, and the tendency for coveteousness/comparisons push us towards idolizing our kids.
Suburbia pushes you towards the sin of idolizing your children.
If you want to hear a good message about this, check out Matt Chandler from last month here. (as well as the funniest Star Wars reference in a sermon I've ever heard :) )
Again, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but for some reason, those of us in the suburbs tend to idolize our children. We are competitive with them in sports, academics, and skills (my kid just did all of the ABC's and he's 6 months old!! ) . We tend to do what they want, and since kids don't have a good filter yet about how many things they should be involved in, we truck them around to 2 different soccer teams, swimming lessons, camp, afterschool art class, etc. . . .It gets rather insane.
In rural areas it seems that kids view themselves more as a part of a family and a needed help to get things done (i.e. helping on the farm, helping take care of a larger family).
In urban areas I think kids are more humbled by the size of their community and identify themselves more with the city, and they gain some balance from that. More on that in a future post
Our kids need us to set boundaries for them and to absolutely not use them for our own advantage. (i.e., the competitive bragging thing mentioned earlier). Our kids need discipline and structure to their life. They need us to not cave to what they want and change the vision of our family to suit what their friends are telling them. If they spend the ages of 5-11 staring at the back of a seat in a mini-van,. . always on the way to some activity. . . we've done something wrong.
We're teaching our kids what is most important and most ultimate by what we allow them to do, and how quick we are to take on a new activity, t.v. show, buy a new toy, cater to them. . . .we're teaching them what's important when we do those things.
None of the activities mentioned above are wrong in themselves. . . we just need some discernment. Again, the numerous options placed before us in the suburbs, and the tendency for coveteousness/comparisons push us towards idolizing our kids.
Monday, June 1, 2009
The Tragedy of Dr. Tiller
There is enough tragedy to go around in the case of Dr. Tiller in Kansas, the doctor who would perform late-term abortions, some would say so late so as to be against the law. Aborion is murder, and is tragic.
But there is equal tragedy in his murder in the foyer of his own church yesterday. This is a tragedy for he and his family, a moral tragedy, and a not a good day for those of us working for pro-life causes. Here is a very thoughtful article from Dr. Albert Mohler. I highly recommend reading this and learning something from history as to how Christians should and should not confront unjust laws. (which our country's abortion laws are very much so)
Great Read
But there is equal tragedy in his murder in the foyer of his own church yesterday. This is a tragedy for he and his family, a moral tragedy, and a not a good day for those of us working for pro-life causes. Here is a very thoughtful article from Dr. Albert Mohler. I highly recommend reading this and learning something from history as to how Christians should and should not confront unjust laws. (which our country's abortion laws are very much so)
Great Read
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