A shot of the Calgary sky line from the look out above Anderson Road. I made some modifications to the picture using the GIMP. Can anyone gues what I changed?

Raliegh and I went on a 39 km adventure through ice, snow, mud and water. A time for me to give thanks for my studded tire, fenders and good friends.

Looking West over east fish creek park. It's hard to capture the mountains.

The view north towards downtown. This is the view I see just before I head down into fishcreek park. I did a 29 km ride today, and took the camera with me. Wasn't clear enough to see the mountains, but maybe tomorow.

Why the Pope Should Not Resign

Jon Trott, one of the editors/writers over at cornsertone magazine has started blogging. Jon's been a favorite writer of mine for years. He won't make it the blog role though, as I've added him to the Friends of Cornerstone list.

- Peace

Our Morning Ritual

Caught a bit of our morning ritual this morning.

We finally bought a digital camera yesterday. An Olympus Stylus 410. As the new 5.0 mega pixel version is out the 4.0 version was on sale. It came highly recomended by Scot, who's used his 3.2 version to take some amazing shots.

- Peace

Just thought I'd up load a pic to use as my profile picture.

Disney's Next Hero: A Lion King of Kings

As the residents of Narnia like to whisper, "Aslan is on the move." And so he is. But for the moment, Walt Disney Pictures has him on a very short leash.
...
the pros at Disney are wrestling with a special challenge: how to sell a screen hero who was conceived as a forthright symbol of Jesus Christ, a redeemer who is tortured and killed in place of a young human sinner and who returns in a glorious resurrection that transforms the snowy landscape of Narnia into a verdant paradise.

That spirituality sets Aslan apart from most of the Disney pantheon and presents the company with a significant dilemma: whether to acknowledge the Christian symbolism and risk alienating a large part of the potential audience, or to play it down and possibly offend the many Christians who count among the books' fan base.

A fascinating NYT piece on how Disney is wrestling with the Lion who is good, but not safe.

As seen on Thunderstuck.

- Peace

Break Your Own Dammed Heart

love should leave you shouting at strangers
expose your poetry to to danger
if you want the water fall to start
you'd better break your own dammed heart
- Paul Bellows

The chours to the opening song on Tape Deck Classics has been running through my head. I love the way the last line works on at least a couple of levels. It resonates with the scriptual images of damnation and harding of our hearts.

I'll give you a new heart. I'll put a new spirit in you. I'll cut out your stone heart and replace it with a red-blooded, firm-muscled heart.
- Ezekiel 11:19

I see breaking a dammed heart as shatering of stone. Works for me.

- Peace

Edmonton Music, New and Classic

My favorite Edmonton band is/was splendourbog. Their status isn't exacly clear. But check out the three MP3s they've posted from their album Elevator Music.

PauL Bellows of SplendourBog Fame has new album, you can listen to it on his page @ New Music Canada.

- Peace

Fair Trade

Pernel posted a quote from Colossians Remixed that sparked quite the discussion. Just thought I'd point people to the Fair Trade web site. Fair Trade started out as way to make sure that the people who grow the coffee in the third world get a fair deal. They've branched out to other things like tea.

I've spotted Fair Trade Coffee at one Starbucks here in town. Ask you local coffee shop about Fair Trade Coffee.

- Peace

A Long Day

my todo list for the day

• work - 8 am
  
• CJUG - 4:30 pm
  
• spin class - 8:10 pm
  
• pick up LT from the airport - 9:30 pm
  

- Peace

Action

Linea Lanoie shares here thoughts On being a Practitioner of the faith.

It's been a recurring theme in much of my reading as of late.

Brian D. McLaren talks about the importance of right living, of Orthopraxy in a Generous Orthodoxy.

James W. Sire talks about how can only claim to know what we live in Habits of the Mind.

I've been deeply impressed by the commitment of Granny Brand and how her and her husband worked as missionaries in the mountains of India for six years before they had their first convert. Six years of caring for people, providing basic medical and dental care, dealing with sick and hurting people.

In his introduction to the old testament prophets Eugene H. Peterson says we can't understand them with out trying to live their message.

You know what, I'm finding action tough. In a world where most relationships are shallow and where we're all self sufficient it's hard to find places to act, places to love. But then maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

- Peace

My Wife Made My Day!

I found a card and a big chocolate hart in my briefcase this morning. Kim you made my day :)

- Peace

A Generous Orthodoxy

Just finished Brian D. McLaren's A Generous Orthodoxy and I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. I had read his A New Kind of Christian and had mixed feeling about it. Much of what he had to say about authentic faith resonated with me. However his habit of labeling anything positive as 'postmodern' was quite annoying. It was almost as if postmodernity was going to save the faith. Not much better than others who label anything they don't like 'postmodern'. A New Kind of Christian seemed to be written for American Evangelical who hadn't read enough CS Lewis, yet often spoke as if it was addressing issues with the entire world wide Church.

In A Generous Orthodoxy McLaren speaks in the first person, recounting his own spiritual journey and what he's learned from various branches of the Christian tradition and why he identifies with them. This grounds the book in McLaren's personal story, not that of an abstracted every-pastor. I agree with McLaren that theology is best understood in the context that birthed it; reading McLaren's theology in the context of his own story make more sense than in an imaginary story.

The central message of the A Generous Orthodoxy is that the Gospel calls us to a life of love. Anything we do in the name of Orthodoxy can not not violate that call to love. McLaren applies this to each of the groups looks at, looking for what each of them has to offer the rest of the Church.

McLaren is not afraid to critique the Church and it's failings, but he does this with a good deal of humility and grace. For me, the strongest part of the book comes near the end. McLaren argues that we can not separate ourselves from our Christian forerunners. We need to learn from their successes, how they learned to love in their contexts. We also need to learn from their failures, and be humbled by them. If we separate ourselves from the past failings of the church, blaming them on those Catholics, Protestants, Conservative or Librals, we prevent ourselves from learning from their flawed humanity. A flawed humanity is a state we all share and need to lear to deal with.

While I can't say I agree with everything McLaren has to say, I do agree that we must be Generous to be Orthodox.

- Peace

World Vision Canada Report

30 Days After the Tsunami

Over 132,000 families (or 660,000 individuals) assisted in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

It hard to comprehend those numbers, over 150 000 people dead, but so many more needing help. For a brief moment the world came together to help. Course we could do more...

- Peace

Lip Sync 00s style

There are times when feel like singing along with my ipod, but I don't thing I'd do it on camera. That takes guts. You know he's not half bad.

Thanks to rambling adventures

- Peace

Bruno R.Marcos Classic Trilogy Games

If you're an old school Star Wars gamer you need to check out
Classic Trilogy Games by Bruno R.Marcos. I've made it thought the Battle of Endor, but I'm still working on The Battle of Yavin. His version of the Death Start Trench run is extreamly hard.

- Peace

Thankfully God is more gracious than my metabolism!

That's the sub title of Mi Vida Mocha, Anemarrie's blog. It captures much of her personality in one sentance.

- Peace

Proverb

Singing light songs to the heavyhearted
is like pouring salt in their wounds
- Proverbs 25:20

Is it just me, or does that fly in the face of modern church culture?

- Peace