from Youthblog http://www.youthblog.org/2012/02/just-saying.html

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

from Ufunk.net http://www.ufunk.net/insolite/quantite-de-sucre-dans-les-aliments/

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

via buzzfeed.com

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

12.  Do something really nice – that no one knows about.

11. Spend more money on other people than I spend on my self.  Love my neighbor as I love myself.  And love myself as I love my neighbor.

10. Laugh often… especially at advertisements that try to convince me that I must buy more stuff in order to be happy.

9. Learn a new life skill – like carpentry, pottery, or canning vegetables.  Teach someone else I life skill I know how to do.

8.  Love a few people well, remembering that what is important is not how much we do but how much love we put into doing it.

7.  Write a letter to someone I need to say thank you to.  Write another letter to someone I need to ask to forgive me.

6.  Track down a critic or someone I disagree with and take them to lunch.  Listen to them.

5.  Compliment someone I have a hard time complimenting… and mean it.

4.  Choose life.  Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of injustice – do something to end violence, bullying, war, capital punishment and other mean and ugly things.

3.  Pause before every crisis and ask “will this matter in 5 years?”

2.  Get outside often and marvel at things like fireflies and shooting stars.  And regularly get my hands into the garden… so when I type on the computer I can see dirt under my fingernails.

1.  Believe in miracles.  And live in a way that might necessitate one.

—-
Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker, activist, and founding member of the Simple Way.  He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.

from Red Letter Christians http://www.redletterchristians.org/12-hopes-for-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&u...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

drake_cam.mp3 Listen on Posterous

02_-_Love_Like_The_Movies.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Take a listen to both and share your thoughts.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

The ecstasy of spirituality might be compared to an experience I had when I was seven years old. It was Christmas, and I wanted more than anything to have a set of Lionel electric trains. I had asked my parents, but they told me I had to ask Santa Claus. I was already skeptical about the reality of that red-flanneled saint, but I knew how the system worked. So, on a carefully picked Saturday, I went with my mother to Gimbel’s department store–where the real one was. (I was always confused about the many Santa Clauses that appeared on the streets at Christmas time, so my mother explained to me that the others were Santa’s helpers, but the real one was at Gimbel Brothers.)

As I stood in front of Santa that particular day, I shouted loud and clear, “I want electric trains!” I said it loud enough for my mother to hear. For that matter, I think half of Gimbel’s heard me.

Christmas morning I tumbled down the steps and ran over to the pile of presents undernearth the tree. I picked up the biggest box, tore away the paper, lifted the lid and found. . .underwear and clothes from my Aunt Madeline! Now I’m a pacifist, but I believe that anyone who gives a seven-year-old boy clothes for Christmas should be shot!

I went through the rest of the presents in halfhearted fashion, convinced that my hopes would not be realized. By then after a while I noticed a large box, way behind the back of the Christmas tree. And when I pulled it our the label said, for Tony.” I tore open the paper, lifted the lid, and there they were–the Lionel trains I had dreamed about! I picked up the engine and hugged it to my little chest. I loved everybody. My joy knew no bounds. I loved my mother. I loved my father. . .I even loved my sisters.

My ecstasy lasted for about three hours, and then something happened. It wasn’t that I broke the trains. Broken trains could be fixed. Something worse happened to them. They got old! In just three hours they lost the luster of newness. Once they became old, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not restore their luster again. I started to think, You can’t do much with electric trains anyway. You put them on the track, turn on the switch of the transformer, and they go around in a circle. You watch them, and watch them, and watch them, and that’s it. The joy was gone.

The Bible says that if anyone be in Christ old things pass away and all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17). The God of Scripture promises to make everything new. Our God creates an aliveness that can drive away the blues, and maintain a sense of newness about the wonders of our world that last a lot longer than three hours.

So today, regardless of presents, may we all strive to remember that toys, boxes, and clothes will all become old. The newness found in Christ, the everlasting newness, will sustain and preserve all things.

In the words of Dr. Seuss:

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Merry Christmas! Keep the Faith!

—-
Tony Campolo is the Founder and President of EAPE and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University. Look for Tony in your area and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

from Red Letter Christians http://www.redletterchristians.org/the-ecstasy-of-spirituality-on-christmas/?...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

from Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/5869512/how-to-scientifically-explain-santa-claus-to-your-...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

What if you could see a concert from every seat in the house? well that is what was done at a David Crowder concert not to long ago. The fans were asked to film the show from there seat, and this si what came out. AND MARRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Young people were reported to leave the church for the following reasons: (1) The church is overprotective. (2) Teens' and 20-somethings' experience of Christianity is shallow. (3) Churches come across as antagonistic to science. (4) Young Christians' church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental. (5) They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity. (6) The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt. Click here to read research findings with fuller explanations of these concerns.

from Ministry Best Practices http://www.ministrybestpractices.com/2011/12/why-young-people-leave-church.ht...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

See the full gallery on Posterous

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Some recent research using Facebook’s social graph has shown that the world’s largest social network has actually made the world about 20% smaller, socially.

Some highlights from the study.

• There are more than 800 million active Facebook users, 50% of which log on daily.
• The median Facebook user has about 100 friends.
• If that number feels low, check out this 1991 study “Why your friends have more friends than you“
• Stanley Milgram performed a study in the 1960s showing an average of 5.2 “hops” between any two people on the planet, hence “six degrees of separation.”
• While the worldwide population in 1960 was just over 3 billion, today it now 7 billion. Logic would tell you that we would have more hops between more than 2x the amount of people on the planet.
• Faecbook partnered with a university in Milan, Italy to develop an algorithm which measured the seperation between any two Facebook users. (800+ million worldwide)
• The distance between hops on Facebook in 2008 was 5 degrees of separation. But now it is 4. And within people in the same country? 3 degrees of separation.
• This research has revealed that your Facebook social circle is at once both global and local. (84% of people’s friends reside in the same country.)
• Source

What does this mean for you?

• Mostly, it’s just really cool and has no real impact on your day-to-day life.
• You’ve got to be more careful than ever about talking smack about someone online. Because one of your friends now has a friend who knows that person.
• Your Facebook status is 3-4 shares away from reaching every person in your country. And 5-6 Facebook shares from any one person in the world.
• As these online networks continue to interconnect our world, it also reveals a greater and greater desire within each of us to form more localized offline connections. (Support groups, farmers markets, small networks of personal friends, etc.)
• In general, the larger a persons social network the less likely they are to keep their thoughts/opinions out of the public arena. I think we will see an increase in “private spaces” in social media to foster the open discussion we all so greatly enjoy.
• Thomas Friedman’s 2005 book, “The World is Flat” was spot on. Fewer degrees of seperation gives more and more power to people with less and less means. This is contributing to a rise in the entrepreneur and socially activated class.

from adammclane.com http://adammclane.com/2011/11/30/facebook-shrank-the-world-literally/?utm_sou...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Jesus asks Peter: Who do you say I am? Peter answers: You are the Messiah, the son of the living God!  Good answer.

It seems to me that there are several ways that people attempt to answer this fundamental question.  I’m going to attempt to summarize this by creating unfair stereotype-based categories.

Liberal Jesus

This Jesus is hip.  He walked around Galilee sportin’ Hebraic dreds and eating mysterious-yet-kosher plants that gave him moments of groovy wisdom.  “Man, you should totally give stuff to the poor, bro.”  “Those religious leaders are just a bunch of squares.”

And yes, Paul was being quite literal when he invited us to take the fragrance of Christ wherever we go.  This is because Jesus didn’t wear antiperspirant.  Not because it was unavailable in the first century, but because it’s bad for mother earth.  And the only reason Jesus was cool with Mary Magdalene pouring that perfume on him was because it was certified organic.  Jesus smelt just better than the one who “dealt.”

Jesus walked and talked like a miracle man.  His presence made people feel as though they were healed and so folks started telling stories as if he actually had magical powers.  These healing abilities even helped him out when he was crucified – for sticking it to the “man” I might add – so that after he was buried in the ground it was like he had healed himself through his legacy.  Thishealing was the memory of his unorthodox life that continues to inspire the inner spirit of many people today.

Conservative Jesus

This Jesus was all man all the time – wild at heart, some might even say. This kind of Jesus couldkick some @$$.  When he was P.O.’d, he’d crack a whip.  He was rugged, smelt of B.O. from working a job in construction, and man-ish to the extreme.  This is the guy you would want in your corner during a tag-team Ultimate Fighting Match.

Lest we get too close to heresy, let’s remember that this manly man also walked on water, healed people, died a penal substitutionary death on a cross, and resurrected – all to prove that he is in fact God (just to be clear, the second person of the Divine Godhead).

And as for teaching – well, he had that one saying: “the poor will always be with you.”  Never mind that the “you” was directed at specific people in the first century, but apparently these poor people will *in all places and at all times* be with “you” and so don’t waste too much time fighting poverty.  (Question: Are these same poor people from Jesus’ day still around and if so, are they immortal?)  The goal of the game: sinner’s prayers recited, even if the pagan turned sanctified saint never becomes part of a community of faith.  After all, “once saved always saved!”

The only important teachings we need to remember are: 1) don’t drink alcohol (after all, our Lord turned water into grape juice), 2) don’t dance (or rather, remember that sex leads to dancing [I may have that bit mixed up]), 3) don’t have sex unless you plan to pro-create, 4) don’t vote for a democrat, and 5) kill, kill, kill all who oppose the USA or Israel.  Every other teaching in the Gospels yields commentary on these five areas.

Hyper-Fundamentalist Jesus

This Jesus is the conservative Jesus after drinking several gallons of Hater-aide.  He likes to blow sh!+ up… literally.  Abortion clinic… caplow!  HIV / AIDS hospital… deleted via homemade pipe bomb put together by a dude named Cletus (the only thing he learned from Chemistry class).  Looks more like the unabomber and less like the peace-filled Jesus of the Gospels.

Ok, not every fundy blows stuff up.  Lots of them, picket at inappropriate places and times.  Billy Graham… boycotted.  Gay pride parade… attended by fundy men (certainly not those who are insecure about their masculinity… not at all) to hold signs: “Jesus hates f@g$” and “f@g$ die God laughs.”  Still wondering how a Jesus who identified with the marginalized in society would hold up signs like this? Well, so am I.

Pop Jesus

Yes, you guessed it: Jesus is your homeboy.  He’s a hipster who wants to “kick it” with you.  He walked around two thousand years ago and tried to show people a good time.  When you feel down, his goal is to give you a hug of optimism.  When times are tough, he’s conveniently the name that you can call upon (sometimes via the curse word) to make sure everything is gonna be alright. When times are good, he’ll keep his distance and not interfere with our pagan-esque sex drive, materialism, and occasional “puff of the magic dragon.” Besides, Jesus exists to make sure we’re all happy campers, right?

King Jesus

The Jesus I know from the New Testament and by the work of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t fit any of these labels.  He’s not a liberal, conservative, hyper-fundy, or pop Jesus.  He is King Jesus.

King Jesus, the one who arrived as the resolution to the broken story of Israel, is God come in the flesh.  In fact, when we look at Jesus Christ, all of the confusing images of God from the past come into perfect focus.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of God had, is, and will come on earth as it is in heaven.  This kingdom is what the world looks like when God is king. The poor are made rich, the lowly are raised up, the powers of evil are defeated, oppressive rulers are dethroned, humans are made whole as their alienation from God is breached, people create Holy Spirit guided missional communities, and all things become new.

The life of King Jesus demonstrates what it looks like to be fully human.  The death of King Jesus shows us how to expose the powers and authorities for what they are – parodies, and how sin is ultimately dealt with – Calvary shaped love.  The resurrection of King Jesus shows us that the new creation kingdom of God was inaugurated, opening fresh possibilities for the people of God to join in the mission of God for the sake of the whole world.  Jesus is king, and to this king we must give our undivided allegiance – against all others.

This is how I begin to answer Jesus’ question: Who do you say that I am?

via patheos.com

Permalink | Leave a comment  »