On Malcolm X

"In prison he joined the Black Muslims, became an avid reader, broke the habits of smoking, eating pork, using drugs, and uttering profanities."
~The Religious Care of the Psychiatric Patient, Wayne E. Oates.

An interesting list, to be sure...

Swine Flu

Brilliant.

Its strange how certain things just stick with you...

I wrote a song for my 6th grade English class. I haven't looked at it in years, and yet the chorus popped into my head this evening.

I thought I saw a light at the end of the tunnel
But it turns out that light was just an on-coming train
I just keep living my life, day-by-day
But I can't help wondering: will my life stay this way?

hm.

Do it yourself

You'd think if we were exporting all of our jobs, we'd at least have the sensibility to export our tools as well, so that we don't need a set of Chinese screwdrivers* to take apart a simple household fan.

But no...



*Not a racism comment. They have different (normally smaller) tools in China.

"Freedom" by Run Kid Run

I heard this song last night on the radio. It's awesome. Partly because it's a great song, but mostly because it's so true.

Our God is a truly awesome God!

"One thing must be emphatically stated.

The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority, direct or indirect. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa-at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397-but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of those communities."

~FF Bruce, The Reliability of NT documents, Ch 3.

"Sooner or later, Daddy and I will find out..."

This phrase emerged from the archives of my brain tonight. It was often said to us as kids: partly to convince my brother and I to tell our parents the truth, and partly to get us to behave (whether they were looking or not.)

But I made a realization tonight: that's not true. They don't always find out. They don't always know.

And I knew this, of course, but I never really made all of the connections. And part of me was a little sad, to be quite honest. How much better it would be-- I thought-- if they DID know. Then perhaps we'd be compelled to behave...or at least tell the truth. Because our parents would know about it.

And then I realized something:
We do have a Parent who knows what we do. God didn't reveal Himself to us as Father for no reason. He indeed knows all that we do.

And yet...are we any more well-behaved because of it?