Apparently my article on Relevant has been posted or linked to on some kind of Ex-Christian site, because in the last 24 hours I’ve received a dozen comments ripping it apart. I’m not sure what site, but it’s pretty obvious they aren’t Jesus lovers by what’s being said.

So, my summer of reading is underway and it has started in a great way. My friend Dave loaned me a book a month or so ago, called The Jesus Style. I have to admit that since it was written in the early 80’s I was a little skeptical about its relevance. I was wrong.

The author (Gayle Erwin) did an excellent job of breaking through all of the religious dogma that surrounds the person of Jesus, to get to his character - character that displays power through servant hood, humility, childlikeness, and love.

In one of my favorite examples from the book He compares confession to taking a crap. If you do it regularly it’s good, easy, and healthy. If you don’t, it’s toxic, hard, and nasty.

I highly recommend this book if you want a fresh look at Jesus and especially if you’re in any type of religious leadership position.

So there’s this neat little trick that a lot of passive agressive type people use and it involves babies. Here’s how it works.

First you find a baby, any baby. Then you talk in a cute little voice, as if you’re talking to the baby. But actually what you are saying isn’t directed to the baby at all but to the adult or adults standing nearby. It goes something like this.

A parent is holding their child. You notice the baby starting to fuss.

Then you look directly at the baby and say, (in a cute little voice) “Oh, does baby want to be cuddled? Or, does baby want to be fed?”
In actuality the baby has no clue what you are saying and you are really saying these things to the parent, insinuating that they aren’t doing something right because their baby is fussing.

Why this is so smart is because you can totally tell a parent they’re an idiot and they can’t say a thing back, because you were talking in a cute voice to their kid. Genius!

Genius, and…if one more person does it, I’m going to throw a poopy diaper at them.

It’s amazing how easy it is at the end of the day, to eat dinner and then plop in front of the TV until my brain goes into hibernation. It takes no effort to watch TV and after a night of doing it I’ve found it to be as good for me as eating a whole bag of Doritos. So with some exceptions, (like a Giants game here and there) Jess and I have decided to in large part abstain from TV for the summer.

I’ve decided to tack on an additional goal for myself to read a book a week, staring in June. I’ve been slowly stacking up a pile of books that I really want to read and aim to get caught up and read them all by the end of the summer. In order to stay accountable for this I’ll post a brief summary of the book that I read on my blog so that you know I’m staying committed. I’ll be adding a category called Books on the sidebar as well.

Most people - when they really think about it- will acknowledge that their fears are irrational. Maybe you have a fear of flying but you also know that far more people die in car accidents than plane crashes each year.

Imagine if you will, that there is a giant machine that lives in your closet. This machine comes out on occasion with it’s bright light and loud mechanical noises, swirling particles into its transparent belly. You have no idea what the purpose of this machine is or what it hopes to accomplish. Maybe your demise? Maybe your loved ones?

Would you call this fear irrational?

At the age of 6 months Jude is totally freaked out by the vacuum. This evening as Jess was vacuuming Jude clung to me like he was in a hurricane and began to wimper at the sight and sound of the vacuum. After it was all over and the whirring and bright light faded he calmed down enough to yell at it a bit - just to prove his supremacy.

Last year I was asked to do the invocation at one of the City Council meetings here in Eureka. I had never prayed aloud in a setting like that before and mumbled probably the most generic, politically correct prayer, that I’m sure went no farther than the ceiling. I got the call again last week.
So all day today I was trying to think of how to pray. I definitely wasn’t going to give some sell-out, user friendly prayer but I also figured that calling down fire from heaven to burn up the podium and our sins wouldn’t be appropriate either. So I settled on using someone else’s prayer.

This prayer was read in the 17th century at the British House of Commons and tonight at the Eureka City Council Meeting:
“Almighty God, by whom alone Kings reign, and Princes decree justice; and from whom alone cometh all counsel, wisdom and understanding; We thine unworthy servants, here gathered together in thy Name, do most humbly beseech thee to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above, to direct and guide us in all our consultations; And grant that we, having thy fear before our eyes, and laying aside all private interests, prejudices, and partial affections, the result of all our counsels, may be the glory of thy blessed name.”

Mark my words tech fans - this is going to be cool. Actually it already is but it will be much, much cooler, in a year or two.

From the same dudes that brought you Kazaa and Skype, the newest internet funyun is Joost. Joost is high quality internet TV based on a P2P network and it rocks. Unlike Kazaa, this program is legit and contracts have been signed with major companies (like Viacom) with more on the way. Right now Joost (pronounced Juiced) is in Beta so there aren’t a ton of shows available but it’s definitely worth checking out. The picture is full screen and looks really good. You can read more about the details on Wikipedia or check it out on their site here.

You need to have an invite to download and use Joost, so email me if you want one.

Happy Mother’s Day!
I know it’s a day early but I’ll be busy tomorrow celebrating motherhood with Jess (her first as a mom) and my own Mother.

I have often heard that Mother’s Day was created by Hallmark so I decided to look into it a bit. It turns out that the original concept for Mother’s Day was actually centered on Mother’s who had sons in the civil war and desired peace. They would get together to share their grief and support each other. Often times these women had sons who fought on opposite sides. You can read the Mother’s Day proclamation from 1870 here.

Eventually in 1914, Mother’s Day was designated an official holiday by Woodrow Wilson and like all holidays in the US, has become over commercialized and lost its original meaning.

All of us identify ourselves with certain groups or cultures. For instance I’m an American. That’s a culture and group I belong to. I’m also a Christian, which is another group I belong to.

The hard thing about having part of your identity being tied to something more corporate is that stereotypes can be attached very easily to you as an individual - as a result of the actions of the whole. The other problem is that it’s very easy for one person to represent the whole, sometimes with little or no accountability. This individual can very easily misrepresent the values of the individuals that make up the whole and the corporate values as well.

When I traveled overseas I often had to state my beliefs and values to people as an American, because their opinion of who I was as an individual had been shaped (to a negative) by what they heard from political figures. It was often a hard wall to break thru.

In 2007, in my own country, I face a similar battle. How do I break down the stereotypes of who I am as a Christian?
And the answer…by making t-shirts! Duh.

My friend Mike and I were chatting about some slogans we could come up with that would accurately reflect what we think of Pop-Christianity. We could use your help. What we want is not anti-Christian slogans, but slogans that point to truth and not Pop-Christianity. I’ve put one T-shirt idea below. If you have a slogan idea throw it down in the comments.