Friday, January 12, 2007
Another Week-Another Ice Storm
Battening Down the Hatches
STL is in for a second major ice storm; we have one at the beginning of December that left almost 500,000 homes without electricity and heat! So, there's no milk, gas, or rock salt to be found within a 50-mile radius! JK. Seriously, do keep our fair metropolis in your prayers this weekend; these ice storms can get pretty nasty pretty quickly.
I'm not sure any 90/9 readers are weather fanatics, but, coming from a farming state (Nebraska), weather is really a life-or-death (or should we say, "money-or-bankruptcy") deal. Many stories I heard growing up were somehow weather-related! Nebraska is the only place I've heard (serious) church prayer requests for rain!
My grandfather has farmed along the Republican River in south central Nebraska since he was 16 (he's now 80 and still at it!); all that time, he's kept a weather journal (what "blogs" used to be called when people still used pen and paper (will the Internet be the death of handwriting?Hmmm). Anyway, when some meterological anomaly occurs (such as 70 in New York and freezing in Cali like it was this past week or so), I call Grandpa. And no matter what I say-"Hey, Grandpa, it rained chicken feathers," he'll always say, "Yeah, same thing happened once here in '62; only that time it was turkey feathers!" Funny thing about that wierd Cali weather is, I remember him telling me a story about a freak cold wave that hit there in January, I believe (he lived in the Burbank area for a short time); none of the cars had antifreeze, so they would get on the interstate, turn north into the wind, and the engine would freeze up.
Finally Found
Time got away from me today, I wasn't able to do my daily Internet "news cruise" (NYTimes, MSN, Slate, etc), but I did listen briefly to the radio (Ok, ok, I'm still a techno-Neanderthal in some ways), just enough to catch a breaking story. About three days ago, a 13-year old boy named Ben Ownby disappeared on his way home from school; they've been playing this sound-byte of the dad pleading with the kidnapper to bring his son home safe over and over and over-really tears you up to hear it
Over 500 tips were phoned in, and they finally found him today! However, that's not the pick-your-jaw-up part of the story; they found another kid, Shawn Hornbeck, an 11-year old who had been kidnapped over four years ago!!! Wow! How would a parent process that? I keep thinking of the father's line from Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son: "My son who was dead is alive again!" Four years; he's 15 now! He left a 6th-grader and comes back a highschooler! What makes it even more difficult is that he is (obviously, since he was kept alive and healthy) the victim of severe "abuse", if you catch my drift. I simply can't imagine, as a parent, trying to help your child recover from that kind of horrible situation.What would say? What could you say? "It'll be OK"? "Glad you're home"? "What's wrong with you?! Why didn't you try to escape"?
I can't help but see the hand of God in this recovery; it's things like this-there must be a God; how else could you make sense out of a world where miracles (Shawn Hornbeck) and potential disasters (coming ice storms) all happen on a Friday?
Have a safe, happy, God-filled weekend!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
STL is in for a second major ice storm; we have one at the beginning of December that left almost 500,000 homes without electricity and heat! So, there's no milk, gas, or rock salt to be found within a 50-mile radius! JK. Seriously, do keep our fair metropolis in your prayers this weekend; these ice storms can get pretty nasty pretty quickly.
I'm not sure any 90/9 readers are weather fanatics, but, coming from a farming state (Nebraska), weather is really a life-or-death (or should we say, "money-or-bankruptcy") deal. Many stories I heard growing up were somehow weather-related! Nebraska is the only place I've heard (serious) church prayer requests for rain!
My grandfather has farmed along the Republican River in south central Nebraska since he was 16 (he's now 80 and still at it!); all that time, he's kept a weather journal (what "blogs" used to be called when people still used pen and paper (will the Internet be the death of handwriting?Hmmm). Anyway, when some meterological anomaly occurs (such as 70 in New York and freezing in Cali like it was this past week or so), I call Grandpa. And no matter what I say-"Hey, Grandpa, it rained chicken feathers," he'll always say, "Yeah, same thing happened once here in '62; only that time it was turkey feathers!" Funny thing about that wierd Cali weather is, I remember him telling me a story about a freak cold wave that hit there in January, I believe (he lived in the Burbank area for a short time); none of the cars had antifreeze, so they would get on the interstate, turn north into the wind, and the engine would freeze up.
Finally Found
Time got away from me today, I wasn't able to do my daily Internet "news cruise" (NYTimes, MSN, Slate, etc), but I did listen briefly to the radio (Ok, ok, I'm still a techno-Neanderthal in some ways), just enough to catch a breaking story. About three days ago, a 13-year old boy named Ben Ownby disappeared on his way home from school; they've been playing this sound-byte of the dad pleading with the kidnapper to bring his son home safe over and over and over-really tears you up to hear it
Over 500 tips were phoned in, and they finally found him today! However, that's not the pick-your-jaw-up part of the story; they found another kid, Shawn Hornbeck, an 11-year old who had been kidnapped over four years ago!!! Wow! How would a parent process that? I keep thinking of the father's line from Jesus' Parable of the Prodigal Son: "My son who was dead is alive again!" Four years; he's 15 now! He left a 6th-grader and comes back a highschooler! What makes it even more difficult is that he is (obviously, since he was kept alive and healthy) the victim of severe "abuse", if you catch my drift. I simply can't imagine, as a parent, trying to help your child recover from that kind of horrible situation.What would say? What could you say? "It'll be OK"? "Glad you're home"? "What's wrong with you?! Why didn't you try to escape"?
I can't help but see the hand of God in this recovery; it's things like this-there must be a God; how else could you make sense out of a world where miracles (Shawn Hornbeck) and potential disasters (coming ice storms) all happen on a Friday?
Have a safe, happy, God-filled weekend!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
You Have GOT To See This!
If Jerry Had Met Jesus
OK, so this entry is a shout-out to all my "used-to-be-a-Deadhead-but-then-I-got-saved" friends. I saw the GREATEST thing ever; I mean, this makes the electric can-opener look like a flub-up.
Pastor Steve Winter, an Apostolic preacher, writes his own version of "Apostolic" music. Now, I don't know exactly what organization he affiliates with; all I do know from his website is that he has performed at the West Virginia UPC district campmeeting in '85 and right now he has a beard that would do ZZ Top proud! I describe the musical style as "Dan Dean meets Jerry Garcia"! Check out their live performance of the soon-to-be #1 on the Oneness Apostolic rock chart "Trinity Schminity", especially Pastor Steve's smokin' guitar solo (Jimi who?). All I gotta say is, "Rock ON, Pastor Steve!"
Speaking of "old school", don't forget to fill out 90&9's Demo Survey; it helps (I don't know if I should say "us" or "them") track who is actually checking out the site and decide how to best serve ours/their audience. So, all my former-Flower-Children and Jesus Freak friends, let us/them know that you're out there; be loud, be proud! With the help of Pastor Steve, let's celebrate a true renaissance of when rock music was rock music--of course, with solidly Apostolic lyrics.
Happy rockin' out!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
OK, so this entry is a shout-out to all my "used-to-be-a-Deadhead-but-then-I-got-saved" friends. I saw the GREATEST thing ever; I mean, this makes the electric can-opener look like a flub-up.
Pastor Steve Winter, an Apostolic preacher, writes his own version of "Apostolic" music. Now, I don't know exactly what organization he affiliates with; all I do know from his website is that he has performed at the West Virginia UPC district campmeeting in '85 and right now he has a beard that would do ZZ Top proud! I describe the musical style as "Dan Dean meets Jerry Garcia"! Check out their live performance of the soon-to-be #1 on the Oneness Apostolic rock chart "Trinity Schminity", especially Pastor Steve's smokin' guitar solo (Jimi who?). All I gotta say is, "Rock ON, Pastor Steve!"
Speaking of "old school", don't forget to fill out 90&9's Demo Survey; it helps (I don't know if I should say "us" or "them") track who is actually checking out the site and decide how to best serve ours/their audience. So, all my former-Flower-Children and Jesus Freak friends, let us/them know that you're out there; be loud, be proud! With the help of Pastor Steve, let's celebrate a true renaissance of when rock music was rock music--of course, with solidly Apostolic lyrics.
Happy rockin' out!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Further Reflections of a Muddled Mind
Forecast: Brainstorm Reduced to Braindrizzle, May Become Drought!
I finally went online and reviewed my own blog (how vainglorious!). I set out with the advice: "Have an overall theme for the month." Great advice; so I chose the grand idea of blogging about "Bible and culture"; how our culture makes explicit and/or implicit use of biblical themes and ideas. As I re-read the three (count 'em: three!) entries I have made so far, I did discover they are united by a theme, but not the theme I chose! Almost every entry makes some sort of reference to my mind being confused, overworked, or "mushed".
Here I am, finishing a Master's degree, and my only coherent thought is: "I can't construct a coherent thought!" Oh yeah! I'm definitely the new poster child for my seminary. (Cue up cheery radio ad music) "Want a successful academic career in Old Testament studies? You ought to come to (name of my seminary, which I choose not to reveal to prevent their embarrassment); it's a great place to learn! Consider Jared Runck, former student; he now spends his days at a nursing home playing pinochle with his 85-year old friend George. He enjoys long walks in the park and lolling about in the shade, like his golden retriever, Sparky. Of his seminary education, he says, 'Bluhbluhbluhbluh' . . .
OK, so I let my imagination run away with me! At least I found a theme; you are now reading the new official blog of "muddle-mindedness". I guess I truly am an "absent-minded" professor, because it sure feels like my mind has taken a semester-long vacation to some nice Florida beach, and left my body in STL to seethe in jealousy.
Mark McGwire, Plagiarism, and Chinese Media Pirates
So, the big news close to home today was that Mark McGwire didn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Furthermore, he didn't make it in because of his rather scandalous snubbing of a congressional subcommittee investigating the use of steroids and other performance enhancers in professional sports. When asked if he had used steroids, he infamously and arrogantly remarked: "I'm not here to talk about the past." Well, duh, McGwire! What are you there to talk about?! The price of tea in Asia?! Come on! As you can tell, I'm not really a McGwire fan (as a confession, I'm not a huge professional sports fan in general; some find this surprising since I am a die-hard college football nut, but it's the money in professional sports that turns me off).
Well, on the same day that McGwire receives the snub, we have our first faculty meeting. One of the topics that came up is that there have been a few incidents of plagiarism; it's become a topic that needs addressing. Now, for those of you who just backslid over the thought of an Apostolic youth committing plagiarism in Bible college, let me first assure you, people are people, even if they are Apostolic people. Secondly, I must note that what makes this so noticeable is that these incidents (involving various students) occurred almost back-to-back. Mainly, incidents of plagiarism have been so isolated and far apart that the previous incident has entered the glorious realm of Gateway "urban legend" before the next one even occurs.
So when more than one incident happens in one semester, it raises an eyebrow. Needless to say, why plagiarism is on the rise occupied the faculty lunch table today! Really, it's not so surprising; just note the current rise of piracy of CDs and DVDs. I'm sure you've seen that ubiquitous trailer that begins: (Cue music from a heart-pounding car chase sequence) "You wouldn't steal a purse . . . You wouldn't steal your grandfather's false teeth" . . .you know how it goes. Anyway, any student who doesn't feel it's wrong to rip a CD or pirate software will probably not blink twice about finding their paper for Church History online.
Which leads to my first main observation: the rise in plagiarism is directly related to the rise of Internet usage among our students. The point I'm making is not the necessity of banning the Internet (I'm not part of the "to-be-Apostolic-you-must-wear-a-Roman-toga-like-Paul" crowd); but it is obvious that the Internet is changing the way we consume and utilize information. Notice how I referenced that article about Mark McGwire above; I used a hyperlink--I didn't give you the name of the source or the author; for all you know, the website I hyperlinked to could have been my own creation (it wasn't; it's the STL-Dispatch website, if you must know).
Which leads me to my second observation: the reason this is such a problem in Asian countries is that they live in a predominantly and anciently oral (vs. literate) culture. By "oral vs. literate", I'm not implying that Asians cannot read; I'm arguing that in their culture, stories are told from generation to generation, not written down. The study of orality is quite a burgeoning field (I have a friend who is using orality in his Ph.D. dissertation at his seminary); we are just beginning to understand how different an "oral" culture is from a "literate" one. One of the primary differences is that stories are considered communal property. Though they are told by gifted storytellers, the story is never seen as the storyteller's property. In fact, using a storyteller's method or version is a great honor to that storyteller--however, you do not have to "cite" him or her. Those in your audience who know the story will understand your reference. To my mind, much of the Asian piracy problem boils down to basic cultural differences; I don't think we recognize that yet.
Which leads me to my third and most important observation. I was struck tonight that there is a connection between McGwire and those who plagiarize or pirate. It's a lack of integrity, and it's the "American disease". Our country is in a spiraling crisis of lost integrity. It's why the war on Iraq is such an issue(BTW, we're getting out by sending in more trooops? How does that work?); for better or worse, I think Bush lost integrity in the eyes of common Americans when we didn't find the WMDs he said were there. That's a grossly unfair and probably an uneducated opinion, but that's what happened. It's also why corporate scandals seem to hit the news every other day; it's why Mark McGwire didn't make the Hall of Fame.
And it's why (some) Bible college students plagiarize. The Church is called to "come out" from the world; here we are following right along with it. It is precisely because of our loss of integrity that we have lost our witness. Francis Bacon once said (I summarize): "Argument is like a crossbow; it is of equal force even if used by a child. Testimony is like a longbow; its force completely depends on the one who shoots it." We are called to testify to people, not argue with them; our testimony is directly dependent on the strength of our integrity. If young people in the Church sacrifice their integrity, they sacrifice their witness. If they sacrifice their witness, they sacrifice their mission. iI they sacrifice their mission, they sacrifice the Church!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
I finally went online and reviewed my own blog (how vainglorious!). I set out with the advice: "Have an overall theme for the month." Great advice; so I chose the grand idea of blogging about "Bible and culture"; how our culture makes explicit and/or implicit use of biblical themes and ideas. As I re-read the three (count 'em: three!) entries I have made so far, I did discover they are united by a theme, but not the theme I chose! Almost every entry makes some sort of reference to my mind being confused, overworked, or "mushed".
Here I am, finishing a Master's degree, and my only coherent thought is: "I can't construct a coherent thought!" Oh yeah! I'm definitely the new poster child for my seminary. (Cue up cheery radio ad music) "Want a successful academic career in Old Testament studies? You ought to come to (name of my seminary, which I choose not to reveal to prevent their embarrassment); it's a great place to learn! Consider Jared Runck, former student; he now spends his days at a nursing home playing pinochle with his 85-year old friend George. He enjoys long walks in the park and lolling about in the shade, like his golden retriever, Sparky. Of his seminary education, he says, 'Bluhbluhbluhbluh' . . .
OK, so I let my imagination run away with me! At least I found a theme; you are now reading the new official blog of "muddle-mindedness". I guess I truly am an "absent-minded" professor, because it sure feels like my mind has taken a semester-long vacation to some nice Florida beach, and left my body in STL to seethe in jealousy.
Mark McGwire, Plagiarism, and Chinese Media Pirates
So, the big news close to home today was that Mark McGwire didn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Furthermore, he didn't make it in because of his rather scandalous snubbing of a congressional subcommittee investigating the use of steroids and other performance enhancers in professional sports. When asked if he had used steroids, he infamously and arrogantly remarked: "I'm not here to talk about the past." Well, duh, McGwire! What are you there to talk about?! The price of tea in Asia?! Come on! As you can tell, I'm not really a McGwire fan (as a confession, I'm not a huge professional sports fan in general; some find this surprising since I am a die-hard college football nut, but it's the money in professional sports that turns me off).
Well, on the same day that McGwire receives the snub, we have our first faculty meeting. One of the topics that came up is that there have been a few incidents of plagiarism; it's become a topic that needs addressing. Now, for those of you who just backslid over the thought of an Apostolic youth committing plagiarism in Bible college, let me first assure you, people are people, even if they are Apostolic people. Secondly, I must note that what makes this so noticeable is that these incidents (involving various students) occurred almost back-to-back. Mainly, incidents of plagiarism have been so isolated and far apart that the previous incident has entered the glorious realm of Gateway "urban legend" before the next one even occurs.
So when more than one incident happens in one semester, it raises an eyebrow. Needless to say, why plagiarism is on the rise occupied the faculty lunch table today! Really, it's not so surprising; just note the current rise of piracy of CDs and DVDs. I'm sure you've seen that ubiquitous trailer that begins: (Cue music from a heart-pounding car chase sequence) "You wouldn't steal a purse . . . You wouldn't steal your grandfather's false teeth" . . .you know how it goes. Anyway, any student who doesn't feel it's wrong to rip a CD or pirate software will probably not blink twice about finding their paper for Church History online.
Which leads to my first main observation: the rise in plagiarism is directly related to the rise of Internet usage among our students. The point I'm making is not the necessity of banning the Internet (I'm not part of the "to-be-Apostolic-you-must-wear-a-Roman-toga-like-Paul" crowd); but it is obvious that the Internet is changing the way we consume and utilize information. Notice how I referenced that article about Mark McGwire above; I used a hyperlink--I didn't give you the name of the source or the author; for all you know, the website I hyperlinked to could have been my own creation (it wasn't; it's the STL-Dispatch website, if you must know).
Which leads me to my second observation: the reason this is such a problem in Asian countries is that they live in a predominantly and anciently oral (vs. literate) culture. By "oral vs. literate", I'm not implying that Asians cannot read; I'm arguing that in their culture, stories are told from generation to generation, not written down. The study of orality is quite a burgeoning field (I have a friend who is using orality in his Ph.D. dissertation at his seminary); we are just beginning to understand how different an "oral" culture is from a "literate" one. One of the primary differences is that stories are considered communal property. Though they are told by gifted storytellers, the story is never seen as the storyteller's property. In fact, using a storyteller's method or version is a great honor to that storyteller--however, you do not have to "cite" him or her. Those in your audience who know the story will understand your reference. To my mind, much of the Asian piracy problem boils down to basic cultural differences; I don't think we recognize that yet.
Which leads me to my third and most important observation. I was struck tonight that there is a connection between McGwire and those who plagiarize or pirate. It's a lack of integrity, and it's the "American disease". Our country is in a spiraling crisis of lost integrity. It's why the war on Iraq is such an issue(BTW, we're getting out by sending in more trooops? How does that work?); for better or worse, I think Bush lost integrity in the eyes of common Americans when we didn't find the WMDs he said were there. That's a grossly unfair and probably an uneducated opinion, but that's what happened. It's also why corporate scandals seem to hit the news every other day; it's why Mark McGwire didn't make the Hall of Fame.
And it's why (some) Bible college students plagiarize. The Church is called to "come out" from the world; here we are following right along with it. It is precisely because of our loss of integrity that we have lost our witness. Francis Bacon once said (I summarize): "Argument is like a crossbow; it is of equal force even if used by a child. Testimony is like a longbow; its force completely depends on the one who shoots it." We are called to testify to people, not argue with them; our testimony is directly dependent on the strength of our integrity. If young people in the Church sacrifice their integrity, they sacrifice their witness. If they sacrifice their witness, they sacrifice their mission. iI they sacrifice their mission, they sacrifice the Church!
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Monday, January 08, 2007
Right Back At It
Yep, I'm right back at it; with barely 3 days to prepare (when you subtract all the traveling we did over vacation--you know, the necessary visits to family, etc), the new semester has come crashing in upon me. The first day is always a complete zoo; the afternoon I wanted to spend in uninterrupted study of wonderful biblical minutiae was spent instead on not-so-wonderful academic minutiae. By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, I was grinding my teeth in frustration; as soon as one person left my office, their life-or-death crisis resolved or at least held in abeyance until tommorow, some other student would crash through the door, splash to the floor in a puddle of tears, and beg to know why (WHY?) they happened not to pass some certain class last semester. Of course, I exaggerate; they didn't really "splash".
Anyway, I am desparately praying that this semester will somehow be different for me. About halfway through most semesters, I get so desparately muddled that I end each night zombie-fied (Is that a word? It should be.), staring at my computer, literally unable to do anything productive. Have you ever been so busy that you actually couldn't think? It's not a very comfortable feeling.
Slate's Bible Blog
I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a great blog running on Slate; David Plotz, a writer for Slate and, by his own admission, a no-so-observant Jew, is blogging about his experience reading through the Bible. Currently, he's in the book of Isaiah; he's already covered most of Books of the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and some of the historical books.
He opens his blog on Genesis 1: "You'd think God would know exactly what He's doing, but He doesn't. He's a tinkerer. He tries something out—what if I move all the water around so dry land can appear? He checks it out. He sees "that it was good." Then He moves on to the next experiment—how about plants? Let's try plants. " God as a "tinkerer", hmmm? Now, that may not be the exact way you and I have read that story, but, I gotta admit, it's a pretty fresh take on the Creation.
It is SO easy, especially with such a sacred book like the Bible, to think we know "what it means". I really think that's why people struggle so much with daily Bible reading; they think they already "got it down"! I've spent almost the last 10 years of my life engaged in systematic study of the Word of God; in many ways, I feel like I know less than when I started--really, I've stopped playing in the tide pool and finally noticed the ocean! It's things like this blog and Cash's novel about Paul that are just enough left of where we stand to jar us out of our complacency and arrogance about the Word of God.
So, maybe this year, those of you who, like me, have made a New Year's Resolution to read through the Bible, can join this other journey; I guarantee you, the conversation will be worth every minute.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
Yep, I'm right back at it; with barely 3 days to prepare (when you subtract all the traveling we did over vacation--you know, the necessary visits to family, etc), the new semester has come crashing in upon me. The first day is always a complete zoo; the afternoon I wanted to spend in uninterrupted study of wonderful biblical minutiae was spent instead on not-so-wonderful academic minutiae. By the time 4 p.m. rolled around, I was grinding my teeth in frustration; as soon as one person left my office, their life-or-death crisis resolved or at least held in abeyance until tommorow, some other student would crash through the door, splash to the floor in a puddle of tears, and beg to know why (WHY?) they happened not to pass some certain class last semester. Of course, I exaggerate; they didn't really "splash".
Anyway, I am desparately praying that this semester will somehow be different for me. About halfway through most semesters, I get so desparately muddled that I end each night zombie-fied (Is that a word? It should be.), staring at my computer, literally unable to do anything productive. Have you ever been so busy that you actually couldn't think? It's not a very comfortable feeling.
Slate's Bible Blog
I don't know if you've seen it, but there's a great blog running on Slate; David Plotz, a writer for Slate and, by his own admission, a no-so-observant Jew, is blogging about his experience reading through the Bible. Currently, he's in the book of Isaiah; he's already covered most of Books of the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) and some of the historical books.
He opens his blog on Genesis 1: "You'd think God would know exactly what He's doing, but He doesn't. He's a tinkerer. He tries something out—what if I move all the water around so dry land can appear? He checks it out. He sees "that it was good." Then He moves on to the next experiment—how about plants? Let's try plants. " God as a "tinkerer", hmmm? Now, that may not be the exact way you and I have read that story, but, I gotta admit, it's a pretty fresh take on the Creation.
It is SO easy, especially with such a sacred book like the Bible, to think we know "what it means". I really think that's why people struggle so much with daily Bible reading; they think they already "got it down"! I've spent almost the last 10 years of my life engaged in systematic study of the Word of God; in many ways, I feel like I know less than when I started--really, I've stopped playing in the tide pool and finally noticed the ocean! It's things like this blog and Cash's novel about Paul that are just enough left of where we stand to jar us out of our complacency and arrogance about the Word of God.
So, maybe this year, those of you who, like me, have made a New Year's Resolution to read through the Bible, can join this other journey; I guarantee you, the conversation will be worth every minute.
Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!
