New shoes

Can I get a witness concerning my new shoes? I would love to entertain testimonies about the "coolness" of my new white velcro tennis shoes. The velcro straps are functional and comfortable - I have my eye on a grey pair as well to round out my winter ensemble. So what do you really think?

America, Love it or Leave it

On Sunday, August 6, the following piece was published in "The Dispatch" newspaper of the Quad-Cities. It was written by a person in Moline for the "Letter to the Editor" section. They wanted to submit their favorite sayings regarding the way the United States has taken on the terrorists around the world.

Here is their list - read them slowly and listen carefully to what is being said.

1. America, love it or leave it.

2. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

3. If you can read, thank a teacher. If you can read English, thank our military.

4. America, home of the free because of the brave.

5. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of anyone who threatens it.

6. Do draft dodgers have reunions? If so, what do they talk about?

7. For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.

8. Marines die, so you don't have to.

9. Except for ending slavery, fascism, Nazism and communism - war has never solved anything.

10. If you can't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them!

I am not even going to comment right now - these popular statements just need to sink in a little. I just would like to ask the audience - what do you hear in these statements? What might a Christian response be?

Borders Boys

I thought I would take a short break from all the madness that I have been writing about. My wife and our friend Susan will be proud that I am. Something a little more personal is in order.

Last night my son Taylor and I made a solo trip to Borders to pick up some books. Books do something for me. I can't get enough of them. But last night was special for another reason. I noticed as Taylor hung out with me (impatiently at times, mind you) in the religion, then philosophy, then government and politics sections, that we were just plain having fun together. Taylor amused himself by finding a book on sign language - and walked away from the experience with the sign for "fart". That was entertaining for the rest of the night.

This note is "kudos" to Taylor. He is not a little boy anymore - we are beginning to have discussions (short ones) about the Middle East crisis, church, and of course, girls. But the best realization that was reinforced for me last night - is that he is just plain fun to be around. I am proud of him. I can't wait to see what he is gonnabe.

The Passion of Mel Gibson

The story of the arrest of Mel Gibson for drunk driving last week deserves some thought. It would be too easy for Christians to castigate Gibson for drunkenness. Way too easy to write him off for foul language. And it is tempting to throw stones at him for his horrendous statements about the Jewish people. But instead of castigating Gibson - I want to remind the evangelical church of our role in elevating Gibson to hero status not long ago because he was making "The Passion of the Christ" despite of Hollywood's inattention to it.

Gibson flew across the country visiting church after church, pastor's conference after conference, marketing his movie. Consequently, the movie brought in over 700 million dollars to date. (I grew very tired of evangelicals crying that Gibson had put up 25-50 million of his own money - you do the math on the profit margin...)

Bottom line, the movie was a success because the evangelical community made it that way. Never mind that the Jewish community reminded us that the movie tells the story in a stereotyped way that has fueled Jewish hatred down through the years. Evangelical leader after leader stated that this movie was the "greatest evangelistic tool" of the last 100 years. Many anticipated that millions would come to Christ and flood our churches. Well, none of that has happened and now we are left picking up the pieces after seeing Gibson's mugshot on CNN.

Here is what really bothers me:
1. I haven't heard any evangelical leader to date make any statement about Gibson's terrible language about the Jews. We made such a huge deal about the movie, now we are deaf and dumb.
2. I am tired of evangelicals believing that we need "tools" like Hollywood movies in order to win people to Christ. Whatever happened to living like Christ in such as way that the church itself was the "tool" for evangelism.
3. I am sad that the evangelical church can so easily be turned into a marketing machine. I suspicion that we will see more marketing efforts of Hollywood toward the evangelical church - (I now suspicion that Dan Brown is probably laughing all the way to the bank)

I pray for Mel Gibson - but I pray more for the evangelical community.



Mel Gibson Sheriff video