A Month in the Life

The End for Now

2009-01-24T17:15:00.003-06:00

Never start something you aren’t willing to stop when its no longer fulfilling its mission.

When we started “Month in the Life” in 2005 (or was it 2004?) it was to use a public blog to share individual lives throughout the Pentecostal movement. At that moment, it was somewhat unique.

For the most part, we’ve done that rather well, with people from all walks of life sharing a month of their existence. Bloggers have launched their own blogs once they realized how fun it was, while others picked up new readers for their regular blogs, and a few have realized they didn’t have all that much to share. (Yes, there were some painful months over the years & thems the breaks when you’re sending out an open invitation to different people around the continent.)

Lots of good stuff over the years though.

That Was Then, This is Now

However, the web has increasingly become Facebook Nation, with everyone who wants to communicate and share, doing it in multiple formats on the different Social Networks. That’s not a bad thing at all.

Still, it makes the need for this type of blog rather unnecessary. Nearly everyone who wants to share their life, is now doing that on one SNS or another. So, we’re going to bid adieu to this faithful blog, and thank everyone who has contributed over the past 4-5 years, and you, the reader, for dipping into the lives of others and commenting where necessary.

That said, I’m sure we’ll be using this forum for our minute-by-minute coverage of North American Youth Congress in August. Because, it captures an Apostolic moment so well.

An Unknown Future

Don’t worry, there will still be blogs on 90&9. Collideoscope will still be spelunking through our strange 21st Century, while the weekly Word will continue to tackle writing and reading through a Pentecostal lens, and the weekly Notes will continue to tackle the world of music, worship and otherwise. (RJ's opening paragraph this week made me chortle in recognition.)

Plus, maybe there’s a good idea for another blog. If ya got one, we’re interested in hearing it. The point is to offer the original, not the usual.

Finally, we’ll be making more changes in ninetyandnine in the coming weeks, to better focus its content and better fulfill our mission. Stick around wontcha?

Pop Culture Watch

2009-01-20T20:58:00.004-06:00

And, apropos of nothing except to prove I’m the secret nerd king of Pentecost, The Watchmen will be the big superhero movie of 2009. Not sure it will be watchable by Christians (the original graphic novel was anarchic and wordy and crazed and groundbreaking), but it’ll be the one everyone talks about assuming the ongoing legal dispute between film studios stays settled.

Anyway, I'm not endorsing the story or movie, but many believe this is what everyone's talking about culturally, just as they did Dark Knight last year and Spider-man in past years. You might want to do your research now before its release on March 6, 2009.

Marrying Politics & Literature . . .

2009-01-19T21:59:00.003-06:00

There's something reassuring to a president who reads real books and wrestles with their ideas. Looks like we've got four future years of a smart guy who's not afraid to tackle the brightest minds from past and present. That's encouraging on any number of fronts.

Barack Obama's Favorite Books are listed here. I always like to see how my list compares with other's favorites, and I've got to admit there's not too much overlap when it comes to the poetry and contemporary fiction by Toni Morrison (I've only ready Beloved, and had mixed thoughts), E.L. Doctorow (only read his essays), and the increasingly overrated Phillip Roth. I like his choices by Graham Greene, Melville, and Hemingway, and am familiar with most of his non-fiction choices.

Then there's all the "Huh" choices that I may never get around to reading - which is basically everything I didn't list.

Still, it's a fun list to examine and speculate how it helped form our new President.

Sis. Nona Freeman News

2009-01-17T15:58:00.002-06:00

Sis. Nona Freeman, UPCI groundbreaking missionary to South Africa, was hospitalized for a stroke January 8, 2009, and is now in rehabilitation. If you want the latest on her status, check here.

Or watch her:

In the meantime, please take a moment to pray for this pioneer and gospel giant. Pentecost's Greatest Generation is too few already.

Download, Gig Economy, Wimpy Kid

2009-01-15T19:40:00.004-06:00

The "Fiction Family" download is finally available on ninetyandnine.com! Enjoy!

Also . . .
Read this on the "Gig Economy." I think much of the Western world in 2009 is living this now. It might give you some insight into the world today (and your world tomorrow?). Killer opening:

"No one I know has a job anymore. They've got Gigs. To people I know in the bottom income brackets, living paycheck to paycheck, the Gig Economy has been old news for years. What’s new is the way it’s hit the demographic that used to assume that a college degree from an elite school was the passport to job security."

Plus . . .
If you don't know about the Wimpy Kid craziness, you don't have a kid in Elementary school. Check it out anyway.

And . . .
I started Like Water for Elephants, and wondered what the book-selling phenomenon was about. Did nothing for me. Didn't sound real, but cliched.

The Best-Laid Plans...

2009-01-14T18:55:00.002-06:00

So technical problems are preventing our Fiction Family download from being uploaded to the site. ARGH.

And the rest of the issue probably won't load until this weekend because.

I love the web. I love the web. I love the web.

Free Fiction Family Download

2009-01-12T21:39:00.003-06:00

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek have joined forces to create “Fiction Family.” Their self-titled debut album will be released on January 20 via ATO Records/Credential Recordings.

They’ve graced ninetyandnine.com with a free download off the CD, to be available Tuesday night, January 13-January 20, 2009. Don’t miss out on this exclusive listen on this exciting new project or read/hear more at their website!

How Much Would You Spend..?

2009-01-10T19:09:00.003-06:00

...on a book?

Abebooks, my favorite used book site on the web, lists the most money paid for books in 2008 - Harry Potter ($12,000+), art, photography, classics, foreign ($17,000+) - as well as related items, like George Bernard Shaw's typewriter.

It's a fun list if you like to read and dream.

Another Brutal Day

2009-01-07T22:38:00.002-06:00

30 mins before I went home from work today I counted receiving over 70 emails at work today. Probably hit 80 before I hit home. Brutal. (Count 'em - 80 from people who want something in return & then figure many emails take 5-15 mins minimum work before they're answered. Then try to do your normal work.)

Everyone is replying to queries they didn't answer over the holiday period (most gone on vacation) & I can tell the field people are getting hit by endless replies as well. My mind turned to mush - so distracted that I forgot about the last oatmeal chocolate chip cookie Nita made last night! That, my friends, is an unprecedented lapse in my life.

I hope your day was better.

News

2009-01-05T23:38:00.002-06:00

There's going to be some 90&9 news soon on this blog, so while I realize it's a new month in a new year, ye olde editor is still blogging. I hope you're okay with that.

Alcohol, Coffee: I Continue to Amaze

2009-01-05T23:23:00.003-06:00

Brutal day at work. Everyone returned & answered all my emails and voice mails simultaneously. No one should have to deal with all of that.

Exit self pity, stage left.

A short time ago, I was on a business trip with a couple co-workers I didn't know well. So as we talked on the way to dinner, they discovered that I had never had a drink of alcohol in my life. One said he knew only 2 other people who could say that & I think the other said they only knew 1 other person. I wasn't trying to be a holy Joe, it just came up.

Then I blew them away. I said, "I also don't drink coffee." That seemed to amaze them even more. Should it have?

You tell me.

Welcoming the New Year

2009-01-02T18:26:00.001-06:00

So how do you welcome each new year, a present of 365 days, into your life?

Nita & I go to dinner on New Year's night (most often we dine on Indian), and go over a list we created for our Sunday School class, that covers everything from our prayer life to the books we'd like to read to the money we'd like to save/invest and the vacations we'd like to enjoy to the necessary career move to the friends we'd like to make dearer.

It's an important tradition, realigning ourselves and our habits into something healthier and stronger. Yes, there's much we can't anticipate, but the baseline goals (Bible reading regimen, financial focus, time commitments, vacation destination) are often malleable if we're willing to apply a bit of discipline toward them.

Last night we dined on Shrimp Tikka Masala and Lamb Biryani with Samosas and Garlic Naan at the House of India.

After discussing 2008, and some of the choices we made (friends), were handed (my employment), and happy progress (financial blessings, which no one ever testifies about, but "Thank you Jesus!"), we dug into the baseline nuts & bolts of 2009.

Don't allow the possibility of failure or the vaporous nature of resolutions prevent you from making worthwhile goals for your next year. The stronger you are, the more God has to use.

Amazing Twins

2009-01-01T12:59:00.002-06:00

So it's the UK Sun, notorious for its tabloid sensibilities and Page 3 (topless) girls every day, but the story appears to be legit:

"SUN doctor Carol Cooper, author of a book on twins, said there was a two in a million chance of a second set of twins like the Durrant girls."

A mixed-race couple has 2 (yes, two!) mixed race set of twins. (They don't allow pictures to be used w/out permission, so check it out here.)

Happy New Year!

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T13:47:00.000-06:00

Low on the excitement scale for me. High on the enjoyment scale though.

The Curry's are hosting a Risk party for the testesterone-charged males, and a Wii-&-Chat party for the estrogen-charged females, while the kids get to stay up late and drink soda all night.

Risk is one of those classic 3-to-5 hour "Conquer the World" board games that many love, but never can find an entire evening to play it. So we've got some guys in town for the holidays & the time, so we're going at it mercilessly & with every intent to win. Nita's actually a tough player, and I've several of my female Bible Quizzers who relish their past victories over yours truly as well. Tonight, it just happens to be a male thing.

Our church doesn't usually do a New Years Eve service, but it's Bible Study night, so we're doing a fellowship meal with testimonies and communion. While I'll never downplay the essential nature of communion, am I un-Pentecostal to admit that I'd rather have a quite evening pre-party than church festivities? (Yes, I'm un-Pentecostal. Which will surprise none of our 90&9 critics.)

Billion$ Lost

2008-12-30T22:55:00.002-06:00

I love stories like this, not because I love to dance on the graves of the mighty who have fallen, but because it’s a brilliant snapshot of the world economy today – as we’re living in it.

Also, I love to contemplate the psychology of what it must feel like to lose $30 billion, or to go from a net worth of $1.1 billion to zero & wipe out your son as well. Wow! That’s drama.

Plus, it makes you wonder how many of these Business Titans actually relied on paper profits to be deemed majestic on the covers of glossy magazines. (Doesn’t James record the rich man weeping over his lost wealth?)

Guerrilla Warfare: Youth Congress Style

2008-12-30T12:22:00.000-06:00

Comments are easily the best invention created for blogs, articles, and SNS pages, not only because you can read what intelligent others have to say on a topic, but the priority of a topic becomes obvious.

In November, I mentioned how we were still receiving comments on two ancient posts concerning the UPC and TV. However, we're also still receiving comments on how our girls dress at Youth Congress.

Yes, NAYC was in August 2007, yet in December 2008 we're still getting Apostolics either attacking or defending how how girls dressed at Youth Congress. Per usual, we did our group blogging from the event, with literally tens of thousands of new visitors checking in, but it wasn't until I posted these girls' pictures (as we do every year of girls & guys, shoes and suits, hairstyles and hats) that animosity appeared.

You could tell most of the Commenters were not attending Youth Congress, with its amazing moves of God, and they weren't commenting about how exciting it was that people were baptized in a fountain Thursday night, they just railed on how ungodly our girls were (which, of course, wasn't my intent when publishing their pictures).

Many on both sides made good points--and it hasn't stopped. I suppose that's as telling a sign of our era as anything.

Christmas (non) Celebrations?

2008-12-29T23:03:00.004-06:00

In the past, 90&9 has discussed how so few Pentecostal churches actually offer a Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day service, but Time noticed how few mainline churches celebrate Christmas anymore.

"If that sounds like the triumph of culture over religion, it is. By the middle of the 20th century, Americans had embraced a civil religion that among other things elevated the ideal of family to a sacrosanct level. The Norman Rockwell image of family gathered around the tree became a Christmas icon that rivaled the baby Jesus. And Christmas Eve services — with their pageantry and familiar traditions — became just one part of the celebration, after the family dinner and before the opening of presents."

It's worth thinking about. (Thanks to alert reader Steve for the link!)

Four Day Weekends Are . . .

2008-12-29T12:14:00.002-06:00

. . . Glorious!

Christmas’s big score at the Curry’s was a family Wii. We’re already wearing out the family room carpet & the prodigy is trouncing me in Tennis, my best game, so my morale has been terribly low most days. (Happily mom beat him in boxing, so I can throw that in his face.)

I also got the usual assortment of clothes, but am most treasuring a biography of William Wilberforce, the British politician & vociferous Christian, who waged a 20ish year war against slavery until he beat it. He’s fascinating because he never made the Prime Minister’s cabinet but stayed an MP (Member of Parliament, the equivalent to a State Representative), & wanted to leave politics to be a good Christian because it was just as hard to be righteous in the late 1700s/early 1800s as it is now. People were still greedy & wanted to maintain the status quo despite the obvious sin against mankind. Yet, he prevailed. Inspiring.

Plus, the holidays mean old friends return home & you get to catch up with them at church & over lunch. I was so graced with Sunday lunch w/former primary (& current emergency backup) 90&9 webmaster David Schultz & his lovely wife Dana and their two boys.

Reality, alas, returns w/a 4 day (light) work week, but that’s okay. I’m nearly recharged.

More later.

The Day After Christmas

2008-12-26T13:32:00.003-06:00

I suppose I resent how everyone else wants to prepackage my time, especially when I have a lazy 4 day weekend. I’ve been sleeping & reading my new William Wilberforce bio, yet email insists that I have another 20+ Facebook notices, sale emails scream that I must leave the house to get in on the new Black Friday, & freelance responsibilities prod my getting underway quite soon.

Forget it.

I live at my own pace so rarely, get enough deep sleep & robust mental nourishment so seldom, that the world can pass on by with its anxiety-producing (“You must be doing what everyone else is doing to matter”) hustle & bustle without me. I can get to them when I get to them.

True Christianity embodies 1) Peace of Mind, and 2) Quality of Life. If those attributes aren't obvious in my daily life, how am I any different from the society I'm attempting to influence?

Cheers for now!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T15:11:00.003-06:00

From the 90&9 staff & the Curry's, to you.

May this glorious celebration of Christ's birth be wonderful wherever you are!

(And yes, w/the wind chill dropping below freezing & sleet yesterday in St. Louis, I wish I were in Florida.)

A Literary Christmas

2008-12-24T08:47:00.000-06:00

I offered some thoughts on Laura's Miller's revelation that somehow the world of Narnia best epitomizes Christmas over at Collideoscope.

It's fascinating how thinking non-Christians always realize Christmas is about love, isn't it?

The Story of the Year

2008-12-23T18:20:00.000-06:00

I know the economy is in a bit of a historic meltdown and a many millions of people are suffering. I know that Phelps guy won an unprecedented (and possibly unrepeatable) 8 gold medals in one Olympics. And yes, I know that Obama guy was elected our first minority president, but wouldn’t you say the true story of the year was the career resurrection of Britney Spears?

Think about it people – she was left for dead, literally unable to watch her children (as decreed by a court order), laughed off the stage of the MTV Awards two years ago and now . . . now, you can’t listen to Top 40 radio without “Womanizer” blaring every 15 minutes.

Plus remember, in America, entertainment always trumps politics, sports, and the economy. So let’s give the award to someone who deserves it, a woman who gives all of us the hope of a second chance. Let’s hear it for Ms. Britney Spears—the Story of the Year 2008!

Naturally, the Mainstream Media (MSM) has the termity to disagree with me.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-12-22T19:09:00.001-06:00

Alas! When I would do good, technology is present with me.

So I mislabeled the 90&9 eblast time, so it went out mid-day, while the issue doesn't go live until tonight. Argh!

Sorry for any confusion this might have caused you.

My Books of the Year - 2008 Version

2008-12-21T21:15:00.003-06:00

For my Books of the Year, go here.

I'm KdC and I'll be your pilot for the rest of this month. (And no, that's not me with a pipe, that's one of the featurd authors on my list.)

Christmas Favorites

2008-12-21T20:24:00.002-06:00

Kent told me to share a few of my favorites & traditions, so here goes!

Christmas Movie--Home Alone, followed by the cartoon version of the Grinch, and A Charlie Brown Christmas

Christmas Song--I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, What Child Is This, Mary Did You Know, I Ain't Gettin' Nothing for Christmas

Christmas Character--Frosty the Snowman

Christmas Ornament--crystal grand piano

Christmas Food--sugar cookies

Christmas Story--traditional Christmas story and all the Little House on the Prairie Christmas stories

Christmas Tradition--as a kid--being a part in the church Christmas play, waking up really early to open presents, going to the nursing home to play Christmas carols

Christmas Memory--When I was in 4th grade, my parents told us we could not get out of bed until 7:00 the next morning. I was awaken by my brothers, informing me that it was 7:00. I got up, went into the living room, and discovered I had gotten a brand new piano from Santa Claus! I immediately started playing on it and woke my parents up, who came out to inform us that it was only 1:00 a.m. and if we didn't get back to bed, Santa was going to take our presents away!

It's been a great week! Glad I had a chance to blog again, but now I think it's Kent's turn...I hope you all have an amazing Christmas week and that in the midst of the hustle and bustle, you take time to remember the reason for the season.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail!