So much of christiandom is undefined fluff. Thank God for Ajith Fernando.

This peace, like this joy, is essential to life. It guards us. It guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Here is the key to managing stress: grapple with God until joy and peace in believing returns. Only then can we go to the world and take on the stress we need to absorb, if we are to be his agents in a torn world.

...

Angry Christian leaders have no freshness in their spiritual life. Sooner or later the weight of their anger shows in an ineffective, unattractive ministry. We must work at having our lives controlled by joy, not by anger. Angry people cannot be gentle under provocation. Any kind of provocation acts as a switch to release hidden anger.

from Missionaries For the Right Reasons

-Peace
Dave

Just wanted to welcome Carol Fox (Mike's wife) to IdeaJoy. Carol is a fellow member of Tribe Geek, she's a Lotus Notes developer, fan of fantasy, long time role playing gamer. She's also an award winning photographer, but I'll let her tell that story. I expect Mike to make a longer introduction, but in the mean time - Welcome Carol.

-Peace
Dave

Just finished Traitor by Matthew Stover. Traitor is book 13 of the New Jedi Order series set in the Star Wars universe. It's a coming of age book for Jacen Solo, son of Han and Leia Solo. It's the book in the serries I've enjoyed the most for some time. The serries has been at it's best when it's focused on the development of the Solo children from teens to adults.

The pop-zen sayings get a bit thick at times. But Stover presents Jacen's new world view with enough artistry that you can feel the appeal of the zenish way of seeing things. The requisite amount of Star Wars action and strong character development make book an enjoyable escapist fantasy read.

-Peace
Dave

read TheForce.Net review of Traitor.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Matthew 6:25

I find it ironic that just before going to worship Jesus, millions of Christians ignore what Jesus said and worry about what to wear to church. When I walk into a church, other than my home church, I'm stuck by how carefully people present themselves on Sunday morning. Jen has a couple of posts "ranting" about people who don't take dressing up for Church seriously (rant 1, rant 2). One of my favorite rants is that we don't take not dressing up, seriously enough.

How is it that we expect people to have special church clothes to honor Jesus when in preparing the way for Jesus, John the Baptist preached:

John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.
Luke 3:11

Jen points out that "your clothing sends a message to people about who you are". And I couldn't agree more. One of the things it says about you, is witch tribe you belong to. I belong to tribe geek. Why does the church send the message that I should look like someone from tribe Gap to worship Jesus?

And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Revelation 5:9

So why are we expected to look like just one tribe on Sunday? The was a picture in the church where I grew up of the graduating class of a mission seminary school, somewhere in Africa. Two rows of beaming black men on fire for the Lord. They looked positively joy filled. But it stuck me as odd they were standing there in polyester suits and ties. So we were helping to spread the Gospel in Africa by training pastors, a great thing. But we were also spreading our culture of pastors wearing suits and ties. I wonder what other cultural baggage we were passing on.

With due apologies to Sprite, we should be saying to our culture "your image is nothing, it's your thirst for the spirit that matters". Instead church is often the place where people are the most image conscious.

-Peace

The way over due
Arts Round Up

So much for shedding my geek image by delving into the arts....

One of the best parts of the Fellowship of the Rings movie was how Bag End was brought to the screen. So it should be no shock that I consider Bag End rendered in Lego art. Read the Slashdot story.


On the Fantasy Theam, Credenda takes a has an article titled Most Real Fantasy. Thanks to Blessed Are the Hungry for the link to Credenda.

GK Chesterson on Science Fiction. I've met some Trekers to whom this quote would apply.

Johny Baker thinks the GeenBelt Festival blog is off to a good start.

The New Aether Chronicle Review takes a good hard look at The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

How Now Brown Pau raises a "defiant fist to the poststructural utopias of new media philosophers".

I love art in unexpected places. I'd have to say this 404 page at the Aglican Church of Canada web site counts as unexpected . Thanks to Ellen for pointing it out. By the way not Ellen's new domain name: ellensjourney.org.

Is an ordinary day art? Does it matter? The Upward Way Press shares some thought on enjoying ordinary days.


In closing, go get Lost in the Waves, a poem by Dan Hues.

-Peace

Mike's Spot On the Wall

• Feeling Better:
  Allthough nothing has changed in my situation I am feeling better about things.
  I bought my wife some flowers yesterday to help her feel better.
  The Ranma ½ DVD's I ordered a few weeks ago finally arrived. For those who don't know (which is probably everyone here) Ranma ½ is a Japanese animated TV sitcom about a boy, who by accidently being dunked in a cursed spring, turns into a girl whenever cold water gets dumped on him. What can I say, it makes me laugh (which maybe says more about my sense of humor than the quality of the show).

Mike's Walk

• Learning to walk again:
  I'm still a bit sore spiritually speaking. I don't really know how Jesus manages to talk me into trying again after I swear I'm not going to.
  Psalms 4:3 See how the Lord has made great his mercy for me; the Lord will give ear to my cry.
  

Home sweet Blog

It’s been a good new/bad news week. The good news is that I’ve been billable this week. I’m back at my favorite client site. The bad news is that Kim, Sarah and I have been fighting a vicious head cold. So after work, I haven’t had much energy.

What energy I did have, I spent hanging out at another blog. Bene Diction hints at what I was up to. I’ll post something about it, if get the ok from those involved. But let me say it ended well.

I did do an Arts Round this week, up but was too sick to post last night. Will post it when I get home tonight.

Thanks to Sarah for running Who Links Who for me today. I didn’t run it before leaving the house this morning. So I called Sarah and talked her through running it. WLW is so simple even a 9 year old can run it. Sarah and Kim have the day off due to Parent Teacher interviews.

-Peace
Dave

Mike's Spot On The Wall

• I feel just like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day:
  Some day's are like that even in Australia
  I just don't know where to start. I found out today that my aunt who I hadn't seen in 30 years is trying to swindle me out of my inheritance (or most of it). I didn't read the Ferengi print of the document giving her power of atourney.
  The property I was to get my portion of the sales of hadn't been evaluated since 1975. So my share would be about between 3 to 5 times what was quoted.
  She said she needed my signature (giving her power of atourney) in order to sell. This wasn't true. The will clearly states she could sell at any time but that my brother and I would have to get our share (25% each) The reason (and sadly the only reason I can think of) that she all of a sudden contacted me was she had a buyer on the line and she didn't want to give my brother and I half the money from the sale. She figured she could dupe us into signing a document selling her the power of atourney at a fraction of what we would really get.
  Since I already signed my document I won't be seeing a larger share, but it's the principle of the bloody thing. I am so angry that she would come out of nowhere just to rip me off.

Mike's Walk

• I'm think I'm just going to sit here for a spell:
  I feel yucky. I don't know where I'm going, what I'm doing, what to hope for.
  Well Jesus this is a fine mess I've gotten us into. Would you kindly take me out.

I'm never sure what to say when someone posts about a painful experience. In this case Dean and his wife are grieving a miscarriage. Bene Diction handels it with grace. There isn't much to say but to our prayers are with you Dean. I will also share the lyrics of Sad Face by Steve Hindalong of The Choir. It was writen after Steve and his wife Nancy went through a miscarriage in the mid 80s. The song is related to Ecclesiastes 7:3, Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.

Sad Face by Steve Hindalong

There's a crystal in the window
Throwing rainbows around
There's a girl by the mirror
And her feet won't touch the ground
'Cause she never saw the sky so bright
Isn't that like a cloud, to come by night
Nevermind the sky
There's a tear in her eye

A sad face is good for the heart
Go on cry, does it seem a cruel world?
A sad face is good for the heart of a girl
A sad face

There's a woman in my kitchen
With a rainbow on her cheek
Well isn't that a promise?
Still I never felt so weak
There's a tiny spirit in a world above
Cradled so sweetly in our Father's love
So you don't have to cry
No there's something in my eye

A sad face is good for the heart
Maybe just now I don't understand
A sad face is good for the heart of a man
A sad face

A sad face is good for the heart
It's alright you don't have to smile
A sad face is good for the heart of a child
For the heart of a child
For the heart of a child
For the heart of a child
A sad face
A sad face...

There is a Live Recording of the song on mp3.com.

-Peace
Dave