Percussive Awesomeness

Check out this video from Musical Furnishings. Then consider buying one for me.

Woe!

Pastor Phil spoke on Sunday morning on Psalm 13, which sounds like this:

1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

He was talking about our reaction to trouble and hardship. I regret that I don't remember some of his key points (I hope he's not reading), but something caught my ear. The first four verses consist of David's pleas to God, while the last two verses talk about the trust and the hope that David clings to. An interesting dichotomy, to be sure. I found it encouraging to read that while David was really bummed out about his circumstances, he still had the faith that God would see him through.

Bad Bagel News

Friends, if you like the bagels at Panera, I have some bad news. They've jacked the price of their "signature" bagels up to $1.25 each. "Regular" bagels like plain, egg, sesame and whole wheat remain .99. All other varieties have jumped to the new price.

This means there will be a lot fewer cinnamon crunch bagels in my future. Oh well, it's probably for the best.

Good Cheap Music

Hey everybody!

Just wanted to give you all a heads-up. Amazon has started a new program where they sell some fairly decent music for $1.99. You can read more here. "Parachutes" from Coldplay is currently on sale.

Good stuff!!

Cheap!!

From the Phone

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Happy Anniversary Paddington!

My favorite bear from deepest, darkest Peru is celebrating his 50th year in print.  I have fond memories of reading about the adventures of Paddington and the Browns.  And wondering what exactly marmalade was.  Read more here.

Quote to think about regarding the State of Church

It's a little on the long side, but I think it speaks to where the Church is at right now.

There was a time when the Church was very powerful - in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christans entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example, they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladitorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary Church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch-defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent - and often even vocal - sanction of things as they are.

But the judgement of God is upon the Church as never before. If today's Church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early Church, it will lose it's authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

That was a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., taken from a letter written to white clergy in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.

Something to be excited about.

God is working.  That's a given.  But I've been impressed as of late with the way that God is at work outside of the United States.  I've been keeping tabs on what Passion Conferences has been up to on their World Tour.  They've been to Kyev, Stockholm, San Paolo, and just this past weekend, in Kampala, Uganda.  And it's been really exciting to read about what's been going on.  And not only read, but in this internet age, I can find photos and videos from these various events online.  

I've also been excited to see what God has been doing through Forgotten Voices International.  Their founder is currently spending a few weeks in Zambia and South Africa, looking at ways to expand their current ministry.

And then just today on the way home from work.  I was listening to NPR (as I'm apt to do these days) and they did a story on how the earthquake in China has opened doors for the Church to go in and minister to victims in plain-view.  Click here to take a listen.

Aslan is on the move!!