"Fifteen years from now, every kid will know he can go to orbit in his lifetime."
1) He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he has shown me that "newness" is no virtue and "oldness" is no fault. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old and nothing is valuable for being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty and opened for me the wisdom of the ages. He said one: every third book you read should be from outside your own (provincial) century.Piper later makes the point that it's not the reading of many books that is important. It is reading good books well... "Meditative reading, reading which stops and ponders, reading which sees deep into reality - that is the kind of reading which profits." With his life and mind as an example... he speaks words we would do well to heed.
2) He demonstrated for me and convinced me that rigorous, precise, penetrating logic is not inimical to deep, soul-stirring feeling and vivid, lively, even playful imagination. He was a "romantic rationalist." He combined what almost everybody today assumes are mutually exclusive: rationalism and poetry, cool logic and warm feeling, disciplined prose and free imagination. In shattering these old stereotypes for me, he freed me to think hard and to write poetry, to argue for the resurrection and compose hymns to Christ, to smash an argument and hug a friend, to demand a definition and use a metaphor.
3) Finally, Lewis has given (and continues to give) me an intense sense of the "realness" of things. This is hard to communicate. To wake up in the morning and to be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the warmth of the sun rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the sheer being of things (quidity as he calls it). He helped me become alive to life. He helped me to see what is there in the world--things which if we didn't have them, we would pay a million dollars to have, but having them, ignore. He convicts me of my insensitivity to beauty. He convicts me of my callous inability to enjoy God's daily gifts. He helps me to awaken my dazing soul so that the realities of life and of God and heaven and hell are seen and felt.
Paying the check by honor system has its risks; there are always those who will exploit the opportunity and eat for free � perhaps more so in big cities. At Babu, an Indian restaurant in New York City, the pay-what-you-feel-is-fair method resulted in too many people getting a free meal. One Friday night, a rowdy group of 10 young Indians walked in and took over the restaurant's large central table. Their response to no prices was to leave no money; not even a tip for the wait staff. Babu now states their prices.There you go. I'm not just a paranoid pessimist.
"Treating our personalities as products reflects an increasingly competitive society in which the best way to stand out is to develop an engaging--and easily defined--image. Companies and celebrities have been doing it for years. Now it's the average guy's turn. 'For a long time, parents discouraged their children from worrying about what others think. They didn't realize how shortsighted and stupid that was,' says Mark Leary, a social psychology professor at Duke University who studies impression management. 'We need other people to think well of us.'"
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
[2 Cor 2:14-17]
"I love my country
and I am proud of it's rich and varied heritage.
I shall always strive to be worthy of it"
George: This has to be some kind of practical joke, surely...?
BlackAdder (standing beside his newly constructed "time machine"): Certainly not... when was the last time I played a practical joke?
Darling: Well, there was the time time you said you were dying of kidney failure, and I donated one of my kidneys to save your life, and then you said it was an (sic) April fool and we had to throw my kidney away (holds back sobs)
(all but Darling laugh at the obviously happy memories)
BlackAdder: Well, yes, there has been the odd HILARIOUS practical joke, but not this time...
Drumroll please.
Question: "Is there any room for dinosaurs in the Bible?"
Answer (from JM): "I guess it depends on how big your Bible is."
"17% of Christians surveyed said they considered themselves part of such a movement, while a full 61% believed that God wants people to be prosperous. And 31%—a far higher percentage than there are Pentecostals in America—agreed that if you give your money to God, God will bless you with more money."
But for a growing number of Christians like George Adams, the question is better restated, 'Why not gain the whole world plus my soul?' For several decades, a philosophy has been percolating in the 10 million-strong Pentecostal wing of Christianity that seems to turn the Gospels' passage on its head: certainly, it allows, Christians should keep one eye on heaven.
About Christ:
[Colossians 1:16]
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
From Paul:
[Acts: 20:22-24]
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Here are 101 versions of the song that doesn't remain the same, depending on whether it's the the Australian music hall version, the Gilligan's Island version, the backwards version, the backwards splice-and-dice quarter note version, the glass harmonica version, the Doors version, the reggae version and on and on (all MP3s). Much of this came from former FMU DJ KBC's CD of the same name, which took much of it's content from this 1992 LP.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker
-Sandi Thom
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In 77 and 69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
When the head of state didn't play guitar,
Not everybody drove a car,
When music really mattered and when radio was king,
When accountants didn't have control
And the media couldn't buy your soul
And computers were still scary and we didn’t know everything
[Chorus]
When pop-stars still remained a myth
And ignorance could still be bliss
And when God Saved the Queen she turned a whiter shade of pale
When my mom and dad were in their teens
And anarchy was still a dream
And the only way to stay in touch was a letter in the mail
[Chorus]
When record shops were still on top
And vinyl was all that they stocked
And the super info highway was still drifting out in space
Kids were wearing hand me downs,
And playing games meant kick around
And footballers still had long hair and dirt across their face
[Chorus]
I was born too late to a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
Until Gibson told his arresting officers that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," I didn't realize that was our thing. If it is, let's drop it. I would have thought that the guy who made Braveheart, The Patriot, Gallipoli and When We Were Soldiers and has directed some of the most violent, angry scenes in cinema would love war. But I guess he doesn't.
And most of all, we have to stop this finger wagging at Gibson. Endeavor agent Ari Emanuel has written that no studio should work with him anymore. Bad call. We don't want to get in a battle here. In a popularity contest between Mel Gibson and Jews, it doesn't look good for the Jews. Better we laugh this off, maybe respond with a gibe at the Australians, like how they make simplistic, overly fruit-forward red wines. Then we all have a chuckle and subtly suggest another dead language for him to teach himself for his next movie. We've got to give that guy as much busywork as possible.
God's Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You'll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.
Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved for affection.
How well God must like you— you don't hang out at Sin Saloon, you don't slink along Dead-End Road, you don't go to Smart-Mouth College.
See those people polishing their chariots, and those others grooming their horses?
But we're making garlands for God our God.The chariots will rust, those horses pull up lame— and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.
True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction.
Deuteronomy 28:47,48
Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
What is your default activity when there's no pressure on you? What is your heart reflexively drawn to? Those are the things that damn us! It isn't adultery... I mean, good grief it does not take a lot of will power to stay out of bed with another woman! But, not to have a desire to look at a picture - desire: that's damning.
To know that my heart has to change, my whole structure of motivation has to change, my whole priority of treasuring things in the world has to change: I'm damned! There's nothing I can do - I feel totally devastated by this inditement.
[direct quote]
