partsofspeaking

In regard to the Monday post: I know Arizona will be hauled into court and some left-wing judge will say their immigration law is unconstitutional. I believe they know that, and expect it. But .. . it's a cry for help. It's a rallying call. It's a statement, and somebody has to make it.

Just heard that Algore and his wife are buying a 8 million plus dollar home. What is wrong with this picture? I also went to see a colleague in another department Tuesday. He/she was not in office, but I looked at the door schedule. Hummm. Four office hours, one class, and I know that class has twelve people in it. Now, let me see. People in my department teach four or five classes a semester (and are encouraged to do more since we have so many students) and each class has 25-28 students. Plus we have to have eight office hours. What is wrong with this picture? We are in the process of hiring our next provost. That inequity is the first thing he/she will have to deal with. But what I walk away with is: stop working so hard. Start having fun. It's the end of the semester. Yes,that's a good place to start having fun. I said no to a ministry this week. It's a good ministry, but someone else will do it well. Change subject. During the Bush administration (accord...

OK, now I'm going to get in trouble. But here goes. Good for Arizona.

Below there is a post about Hallmark movies. I want to add that my comments are only true of about half of them. Many Hallmark movies are superb and can be watched over and over again.

Looking at a Christian online bookstore site, I saw the following _____ Helps Women Say Goodbye to Insecurity. I won't say whose name appeared in that blank, but many could figure it out. I have written about this woman before, and positively. It's not her, it's the headline, it's the promise, of this ad. Do they really think women can say goodbye to insecurity just by listening to a speaker or reading a book? And is insecurity all that bad? If it's insecurity about the covenant grace of God, then yes. Hopefully, that is the point of the book being advertised. If it's insecurity that we don't measure up to a cultural standard, then no. Insecurity can be a motivator. It can motivate us to say, "The cultural standards are nonsense, I'm going to pave my own way," or "some of these cultural standards may have some validity. My house is a mess and I shouldn't be satisfied living like this; I don't have an education equal to su...

I am working on something but have a Hallmark movie on. I used to say that these Lifetime and Hallmark movies have five plots that are just recycled. I am beginning to think there are fewer. These are the normal elements. 1. Woman as main character. She is thin and beautiful. 2. She is successful but unhappy. She is either a journalist or a lawyer or high power businesswoman 3. She is usually engaged or involved with an obnoxious, much older, controlling, and/or distant man who either has a lot of money or whom she works with. 4. For some reason she has to go to a small town and stay in a bed and breakfast or with a kind family. 5. She meets a hunky guy, who is of course available, very quickly upon coming to the town, but she usually is way uptight and does everything she can to run him off, but he is too good a guy to conclude she's the witch she is. 6. She keeps running into the hunky guy in her adventures in said small town, and he ends up being a lawyer who d...

Who are we to believe about the environment. Example: I recycle, by choice. By taking the recyclables to the landfill/recycling center, I use energy and time. (I have to take my garbage to the landfill anyway, so that's a wash). I assume the people who run the landfill actually take it to the processing plant. I assume that the materials taken to the plant are re-created into something useful and not discarded. I assume that less energy is used to recycle than create anew. I assume everything that is advertised as recycled products (like cereal boxes) really are. In other words, we trust a whole lot, and take for granted it's all true. Why? Because people like me want to do the right thing, and throwing away just doesn't seem like the right thing anymore after all those years of being told to recycle! And to drive fuel efficient cars. And to turn off the lights that aren't being used. This is the safe, Christian, conservative version of environmentalism. W...

The following is my lesson for April 18. It is a little long, but I enjoyed this study, especially the Old Testament part. I. The model of fellowship: God’s fellowship within the trinity. John 17:11. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. John 15:9 9."As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.10.If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. II. The basis of fellowship: God’s faithfulness in our redemption. That is what we have in common. Isn’t that enough? Yes. 1 Corinthians 1:9 NIV God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. III. The requirements of our fellowship with God: All references to fellowship in the OT are in reference to peace offerings.Th...

I am willing to accept that I may be wrong on this theory, but it's worth considering. The great turning point of political history was theRoe v. Wade decision. Why do I say that? 1. It mobilized a lot of people who were appalled by the numbers of abortions and the reasoning behind the decision. 2. It made people realize (or at least gave fuel to the argument) about activist judges. 3. It led many people to change parties. 4. It led many Republican politicians to deceive many Americans, especially naive Christians, that they would do something about the issue. 5. It changed the dynamic of church/state involvement in politics, for better or worse. 6. It established a litmus test for Supreme Court and other federal judges. Did the Warren court know they would do that? The evidence is that they thought they were solving a social problem (not sure which one). Law of unintended consequences.

I thought this article was funny. We all so glibly accept those conditions on email and downloads without fully reading them. Mephistopheles must have written this one! http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/15/online-shoppers-unknowingly-sold-souls/

Because golf is a cult at my house, I have watched quite a bit of the Masters this week. Golf is limited as a spectator sport, and I'd rather play; if it weren't for the dangerously high pollen level right now, I'd be on the course. As it is, everyone is miserable with itching eyes, blurred vision, headaches, bloody noses, coughing, wheezing, and sneezing. At any rate, I have to say two things about the Masters, and they are not at all original but are heartfelt. The media is complicit in all of Woods faults. At one point, ESPN had as its headline: "Tiger in third place." The secondary point was actually who was winning. It was nauseating. I felt marriage and commitment were affirmed by the winner and his reaction with his wife. It was quite touching. Phil may or may not be the best golfer, and maybe some of the others don't like him as much (but these are the same ones who covered for Woods); he was just the best this weekend. But his example of wha...

Why do women call into talk programs on Christian radio stations and start crying as soon as they are on the air? I turn the radio off immediately when that happens. Keep it together, for goodness sake--or don't dial the station!!!

Our church is in the middle of a "capital campaign." These things are inevitable, I suppose, because we live in bodies that must go into buildings, buildings must be functional and a little impressive to draw crowds, drawing crowds is good, etc. etc. I understand the purposes of the campaign and support them generally but am also a tad ambivalent about them. A company has been hired to help us, and part of the campaign involves teaching Sunday School lessons about "one" in the month of April. "One mind" is this week's theme. The passage, of course, is Phil. 2:1-11. I hold all the Bible in great esteem, especially the New Testament (don't accuse me of heresy here), but there are certain passages that are especially dear and awe-inspiring and terrible (in the best sense of that word). John 11 is one (it will be read at my funeral); Romans 8; parts of Revelation; I Corinthians 13. And Philippians 2:1-11, part or all of which was a hymn in the e...

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

Whoever stumbles upon this blog would think its writer is a nutcase, posting on passion week one time and the Marx Brother next. So now is my regular random blog, a conglomeration of observations. HallMark has made some great movies. I'm watching one of my favorites now (well, it's on, I'm blogging). They also have some truly lame ones. I'm not interested in all the variations of "Love's This" and Love's That" and "Love's This and That." My garden is taking shape, after a lot of hoeing. I gave up Fox News for Lent. A good choice. It has cured me of a default behavior (used to be called a habit). And then there's LOST. This week's episode was not one of the best even though it was about my favorite characters, the "Koreans." At least we see a respect for marriage on this show, unlike most. And there were some great moments. Seeing Desmond again (who can't like Desmond, the Scottish loser who rises to t...

What is the gospel. The first answer is "good news." The second would be "what's described in I Corinthians 15:1 and following." Those are the standard answers, but I'm not sure how far we go with them. The gospel is much more, and I think we spend most of our lives trying to understand it. It's not just for conversion. There is in the Bible more than one gospel, but there is one permanent one, for us. John had a gospel of the coming kingdom, Jesus sent the 70 of the disciples out to preach the gospel of the present king, and I Corinthians tells us the complete gospel. Do we always get the whole picture when we say we know what it is? 1. the gospel is the means by which we are saved. 2. the gospel is what we stand on 3. the gospel first is based on who Christ is. Notice Paul says "Christ," not Jesus, indicating the anointed one's identity. If Jesus is not the Christ, then he is really just another executed Jew. That's a sho...

I had planned to get my garden in this weekend. May not make it, but I'm hoeing now. It's about 200 square feet--not much, I know, but last year I learned what to do and what not to do. What not: cantaloupe and eggplant. Cantaloupe takes up too much space and eggplant just didn't grow, must be a soil thing, especially since the other things grew like crazy. What: beans, squash (zucchini and crookneck, which I call duckhead to myself), cucumbers, lettuce, okra, peppers, and tomatoes (but they are on the side of the house to get maximum sun). What I learned last year: you have to be after a garden every day--weeding, organic pesticide, water, fertilizing. You can't crowd (have made that mistake!). Don't buy dirt from Walmart. It's garbage. And okra reproduces like rabbits but gets really out of hand. What I still need to figure out: lettuce. I find gardening very satisfying, especially when the squash comes in and they surprise me--footlong green ...