A Beautiful Tribute

To a Maritime man I never knew from his cousin I’ve never met who lives just down the road from where I grew up. It’s dark, painfully honest and stunningly beautiful. Suffering is a complex web of beauty and loss.

- Peace
Dave

Updated: I listed Mark (the man) as being from Quebec. My bad.

I Wonder Where All the Readers Are?

An important insight for bloggers. [Warning: you may need to wait 30 seconds for the ad to pass]

- Peace
Dave

Funky Pickle

Logo of a great pizza place in Edmonton.

I couldn't resist

I couldn't resist taking the Belief-O-Matic quiz to discover what faith group I should really belong to.

The results are:
1. Orthodox Quaker (100%)
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (85%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (80%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (78%)
5. Eastern Orthodox (71%)
6. Roman Catholic (71%)
7. Liberal Quakers (68%)
8. Unitarian Universalism (58%)
9. Bahá'í Faith (55%)
10. Hinduism (48%)
...
24. Scientology (29%)
25. New Thought (29%)
26. Jehovah's Witness (23%)
27. Nontheist (22%)

Well, I'm glad to see these were at the bottom of the list.

Katamari Damacy as a Flash Game

Katamari Damacy 2 is the offical title. It's an offical relase from the folks who brought you Katamari and We Love Katamari. If you haven't played those games then I'm not sure the flash version will make any sense.

As seen on Game|Life.

- Peace

Walter

Not a Side Project (Part II)

The Glory of My Job

But let us become as specific as possible. Consider just your job, the work you do to make a living. This is one of clearest ways possible of focusing upon apprenticeship to Jesus. To be a disciple of Jesus is, crucially, to learning from Jesus how to do your job as Jesus himself would do it. New Testament language for this is to do it “in the name” of Jesus.

Once you stop to think about it, you can see that not to find your job to be a primary place of discipleship is to automatically exclude a major part, if not most, of your waking hours from life with him. It is to assume to run of the largest areas of your interest and concern on your own or under the direction and instruction of people other than Jesus. But this is right where most professing Christians are left today, with the prevailing view that discipleship is a special calling having to do chiefly with religious activities and "full-time Christian service."

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy - Chapter 8: On Being a Disciple or Student of Jesus. Pages 285.

My experience varies from Willard in that the call to discipleship has always been universal, but that call has often focused on religious expressions. You are a disciple at work if you pray in the cafeteria or hold Bible studies, but how you do your your actual job is never mentioned. When people speak of ministry they never talk about what they spend most of their time doing but their Church involvement. I don't think it's an either or but a both and where only one side of the equation has gotten 95% of the attention.

This is pattern in the Church that stretches back for centuries, so it's easy for people to hear the message that you're only spiritual in Church even when the intent to say that is not there. I know fell into that trap last week.

- Peace

Sun Ice

Not a Side Project (Part I)

The Whole of my Daily existence Is the Focus of discipleship

That my actual life is the focus of my apprenticeship to Jesus is crucial. Knowing this can help deliver us from the genuine craziness that the current distinction between "full-time Christian service" and "part-time Christian service" imposes on us. For a disciple of Jesus in not necessarily one devoted to doing specifically religious things as that is usually understood. To repeat, I am learning from Jesus how to lead my life my whole life, my real life. Note, please, I am not learning from him how to lead his life. His life on earth was a transcendently wonderful one. But it has now been led. Neither I nor anyone else, even himself, well ever lead it again. And he is, in any case, interested in my life, that very existence that is me. There lies my need. I need to be able to lead my life as he would lead it if he were I.

So as his disciple I am not necessarily learning how to do special religious things, either as a part of "full-time service" or as a part of "part-time service." My discipleship to Jesus is, within clearly definable limits, not a matter of what I do, but of how I do it. And it covers everything "religious" or not.

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy - Chapter 8: On Being a Disciple or Student of Jesus. Pages 283,284.

I agree with Willard that understanding this is crucial, the next quote will help explain why.

to be continued ...

- Peace

A Saturday Morning With Curious George

Curious George has got the full feature movie treatment and its full of colour and warmth. George avoids the real danger of been stretched way to thin in making the transition from short childrens book to feature movie. The original Curious George books were illustrated in monochrome with yellow colour highlights, while the animation draws on the look of the books it's filled with rich warm colours. The story gets the same treatment, George's adventrures are still key but the story is fleshed out by giving the Man in the Yellow hat a backstory.

We learn why he came to Africa, why he's dressed in yellow and that he has more in his life than George; though he's oblivious to it most of the movie. The love story adds some nice humor for the adults, but it's not wink wink nudge nudge if you know what I mean, adult humor; it's he's so clueless in love humor. Having been there done that it made me laugh.

Some purists will object that they've moved George into the 21st century with computers and cell phones. I for one am glad to know he's along for the ride.

The Sound track by Jack Johnson is worthy of it's own review.

BTW we caught George at 10:30 am preview screening and it was perfect timing. To bad none of the Calgary theaters are running it at 10:30 am.

- Peace

Spam of the Beast

Clapping in the Movie Theater

Clapping in the Movie Theater, the performers aren't there so what's the point? Well Kim and I found ourselves giving Safety Last a hearty round of applause. Safety Last was the last of four movies in this years Silent Movie Monday series at the Uptown. If Clapping in the movie theater is odd, then calling the series Silent Movie Mondays is even stranger. While the movies are from the 20s, there is an live performance component as well. The Cantos Music Foundation has recreated a movie house organ and brings in a movie organist to provide the sound track. His music and sound effects brought the classic comedy to life. The applause was well earned.

The series has sold out every night for the last three years so we'll be watching for the 2007 announcement.

- Peace

Calgary at Night

Knoppix to the rescue!

While Windows XP crasshes on boot, I can bring up the PC with Knoppix a Bootable Linux CD. How cool is that?

- Peace

Worship is a lifestyle?

Worship is a lifestyle. I hear this phrase all to often. The idea behind this is that worship isn't just something you do on Sunday it is your whole life. The problem with this is that once worship becomes everything it becomes nothing. It makes is so terribly difficult to have a conversation about what might be an appropriate expression of worship in a corporate context.

Read LT's full post.

I'd also add it confuses things, as some people hear that to mean you pray or sing songs all the time. You're only spiritual is you're praying or singing. Might work in some contexts, but I don't know how you do that when you're teaching or giving a lecture.

On a related note: do we think Jesus wasted his time as a carpenter? He spent most of his time working with wood, not doing miracle or religious work. I've often heard it said he spent that time preparing for his public ministry, but I haven't ever seen the backed up by anything. What does it say about Jesus that he spent most of his life not doing religious work? hmmm...

- Peace

Home PC died

yeah, it blue screens on boot. It's been a bit unreliable as of late but now it won't even boot. Something about an unknown driver failing. Fun. Was looking at a new PC anyways but hoped to leave it for a bit. Sigh.

- Peace