I was in Austin yesterday at a Bible Teacher’s Workshop when I went outside to sit in the sun for a few minutes.As I sat there I heard a sound that I don’t hear on a regular basis, but it was familiar nonetheless.It was the sound of locusts in the trees, and it immediately took me back to Snyder, Texas in the early 80s.Every now and then we would visit our cousins there and on one of those trips I remember discovering that sound for the first time, finding shells of locusts left behind, and trying to catch these noisemakers.
Reflecting on those memories led me to recall some other notable sounds from childhood … like F-16s from Carswell Air Force Base flying over our house, and the sound of the train passing our home.
What about you?When you think of childhood, what sounds do you hear?
1,000 years from now when people look back and study this culture do you ever wonder how hard it’s going to be to decipher some of the language that’s emerged over the past 20 years? Think about it … iphone, ipod, ecommerce, mlearning. From their pronunciation to their meaning these words are going to be difficult. They make sense today but I wonder how cryptic they will sound in 2108 or 2208. (Then again, some of these, like the iPhone, may reach “printing press” fame and go down in history books as a great invention.)
If you were going to describe a term or cultural icon to future generations, what would you explain? What will they need help with?
While most of my tech savy friends have, at some point in their lives, come to appeciate Mac computers there are a few who refuse to consider that Apple has made a better product. Having said that, I must maintain my tech integrity by confessing that my Mac computer is not perfect. In fact, it’s in the shop. I couldn’t even get it to turn on over the weekend.
So while I type this post on an old Compaq computer made pre-millenium you cynics set on derision of all Mac things are welcomed here to insert your favorite remarks about why your computer is better.
The question stems from the reading of “a first-century BC tablet, thought to originate from the Jordanian bank of the Dead Sea, that tells the story of a Messiah who rose again after three days from the grave.”
If the dating, reading, and interpretation of the tablet are all correct it suggests there might have been a reference to a three-day resurrection before Jesus.But as the article admits, that view depends on “creative interpretation of a smudged passage.”
While I’d like to learn more about this tablet, I’d also like to answer Time’s question: Yes, Jesus’ resurrection was a sequel … Episode III to be exact.It was preceded by the son of a widow in Nain (Lk. 7:14,15) and a man named Lazarus (Jn. 11:44) who were both raised from the dead.
But Jesus’ resurrection is distinct from these two in that Jesus predicted his own suffering and death, as well as his resurrection … and then did it.
All of this leads me to wonder, what scientific or archeological discovery would challenge people’s faith?
My A/C is off as I commute. It’s one small way that I’m saving money on gas mileage. Not by choice, though. My A/C is broken. So every late afternoon when the sun has had all day to rev up it’s heat, I drive home, windows down, sweat dripping. And since my windows are down, I can hear other vehicles better than I could before. Something I’ve noticed is that more and more people are turning off their engines at stop lights. I’m also seeing (maybe just noticing) more motorcycles and scooters on the roads. I don’t think people are driving any slower to save gas, but I’m more conscious every time I accelerate from a stop. What about you? How have you seen gas prices influence people’s driving?
Did you see the news report today that “The international space station’s lone toilet is broken, leaving the crew with almost nowhere to go.” (CNN.com/technology). Talk about an understatement! How would you like to be suspended hundreds of miles above the earth with no bathroom?
And what do you think the astronauts said to Mission Control when it happened? I’ll go first, “Houston, we have a problem!”
These two instructions (Prov. 26:4,5) appear to contradict each other. That would certainly be the case if every situation were the same, but the wisdom of proverbs won’t let us off that easily. The proverbs don’t prescribe actions for every situation. Instead they teach principles that should be headed.
In once instance it may be appropriate to answer and in others it may be appropriate to abstain from answering. “The goal [of these proverbs] is to create a wise person, rather than to define the rules of what wisdom dictates should be done on particular occasions” (Clements 2000, 27). Do you agree or disagree?
Clements, R.E. 2000. The sources of wisdom. In W. S. Brown, ed. Understanding wisdom: Sources, science, and society. 15-34. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
Question of the day: Should you answer a fool or avoid a fool?
Proverbs 26:4 “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.”
Proverbs 26:5 “Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.”
Dana Prinz is a Jewish educator that prepares students for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Reflecting on the tension between children’s athletic schedules and their religious commitments she has said,
“Parents push children early on to develop the competitive edge they need in such extracurriculars as sports and theater – starting them young with rigorous physical training. But what about spiritual training?
Aren’t the habits of religious faith and the insights of sacred texts also worthy of rigorous attention? Do they not demand the same time and level of commitment?
Sometimes I get the feeling that parents of my children don’t really believe that the skills we work on in religious school have much relevance to their children’s future. I get the impression instead that they enroll their kids in religious school as simply a gesture of residual respect for the community into which they were born. I’m not alone. Many of my Christian friends who teach Sunday school also feel they are dealing in what is regarded ultimately as a casual, if not quite expendable, commodity.” (Prinz 2004, 9).
Is this a problem among Christian parents? Is there a widespread over-emphasis on physical training to the neglect of spiritual training?
Prinz, Dana Mack. 2004. Don’t let your kids’ sports outpace the rigors of spiritual training. Christian Science Monitor. 96 (52): 9.
I just finished reading an amazing (and true) story. The book is called, “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” and was first published in 1959 but has been released since that time (in 1999) because of its merit as a tale that should be told to anyone who has ever been in a boat, anyone who’s ever been in cold weather, and anyone with a spirit of adventure that makes them dream about accomplishing impossible goals.
In 1914 there were others who had been to the South Pole but no one had crossed the Antarctic continent. This was Earnest Shackleton’s goal. So he set out from South Georgia Island on Dec. 5, 1914 with a crew of 28 men on board the ship, Endurance. What happened to those 28 men between that day in 1914 and Aug. 30, 1916 is an unbelievable adventure that even Hollywood couldn’t make up. In fact, I can’t think of a good reason why someone hasn’t picked up this story to make into a movie. It needs to be done!
