He Was a Quiet Man

We watched "He Was a Quiet Man" last night. It's the sort of movie that sticks with you, and not in an entirely pleasant sort of way. Very interesting flick, though. In keeping with the practice I started with Pirates of the Caribbean III, here is my review in haiku form.

Creepy yet funny
A dark tale of redemption?
Almost, but not quite

View Trailer here.

(Also, be warned that the movie has lots of strong language and one scene of nudity.)

Mowing in the New Old Fashioned Way

Ever since we've moved to our new neighborhood I've been pondering how I can get to know the neighbors. Apparently, all I had to do was mow my grass with my state-of-the-art old-fashioned lawnmower.

It was great. Early this afternoon I wheeled my reel mower to the front lawn, and faster than you could say "Tom Sawyer" six neighborhood boys stopped their street football game and began fighting with each other for the privilege of doing my yard work. So now my lawn mower is not only whisper-quiet and zero-emissions (not to mention fuel efficient), but it also practically mows itself.

If you want one of your own, you can get them at Sears. If you just want to give one a whirl, stop by my house sometime late next week and I'll try to convince the boys to give you a turn.

Church History Website

The summer semester is over. Yeah! For my Ancient and Medieval Church History class (see last post) I made a website for my final project. It is a timeline of the first 1500 years of church history, but the really cool feature is that it plots the events on a Google Map. It also has filters and search capability.

Check it out at: llamatrauma.com
(And let me know if you find any bugs).

You can also see other fun examples that use the same MIT visualization platform at http://simile.mit.edu/exhibit/.

Why the Reformation matters - Lecture

I know what you're thinking - Whoa, two posts in one month? I know, it's crazy. But this one won't be much.

I was just listening to my Ancient & Medieval Church History lectures today, and I heard one that I had to commend to you. It's Dr. Calhoun of Covenant Seminary presenting a lecture on the Medieval Roman Catholic sacramental system - but it's cleverly presented as a conversation between between a medieval peasant and his priest where the peasant asks, "What must I do to be saved?" (To spoil it a bit, the priest doesn't have a lot to say about justification by faith.)

If you've ever wondered why the Reformation was such a big deal, or if you're just looking for something to listen to over your lunch hour, check this out.

Sacramental System Lecture -Dr. Calhoun

(Lecture provide free courtesy of Covenant Worldwide. Check out their website for more great free content.)

Preaching at New Song (Part 2)

I just got done preaching at NSC for my second time. Again, it was a joy and an honor to preach there. This sermon was on Genesis 11 and 12 - the Tower of Babel and Call of Abraham. For my own personal enjoyment I came up with the working title of:

"What is Wrong with Us?
(And How in God's Name can we be fixed?)

If you want to listen, here's the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?zmwmwlngitw

*Update - Craver has a picture and some reflections on the sermon over at his blog.

Preaching at New Song

If anyone is still checking this blog, I'm amazed. Kudos to you for your faithfulness. I realized as I was about to make this post that this will be my only post in June. And I only did 3 in May. And one in April. My, how the year has flown by already. If anyone cares to know why I have been so lax in posting recently (and no I don't even want to talk about how bad we've been on updating the family blog with pictures), I think it had something to do with buying a house, moving, taking summer Hebrew, visiting family, and preparing and delivering a sermon at our old home, New Song Church.

Speaking of the sermon, thank you to everyone who was praying for me both as I put it together and as I delivered it. I was very encouraged by the experience, and I was immensely gratified by the number of people who told me that they were blessed by the message. If you missed my debut but would like to hear the message (Gospel-Motivated Good Works, Titus 3:3-8), just email me (my address in in the sidebar) and I will send you a copy. I will also be returning to New Song in Bolingbrook, IL on July 20th to preach again if you want to hear me in person.

And to anyone from New Song who is reading this - thanks for such a warm homecoming. You still have our hearts.

*Update* I'm sorry to anyone who was assaulted by offensive ads at the site where I had my sermon linked before. I just randomly picked a free file sharing site to host it - apparently I did not choose wisely. I'll try to be more careful in the future.

**Update 2** Here's a more reputable file sharing site (I think.) The ads appear to be more family friendly. Enjoy.

http://www.mediafire.com/?vqzbgxwxjjy

Literally

I just fell victim to one of my pet peeves - the overuse and misuse of the word "literally." I was leaving a message with some friends explaining that we couldn't come over because we were "under the weather." Since we've been having some storms recently, I tried to clarify that I meant that we were sick, not trapped by the rain, and to my horror, what came out was, "we're under the weather, literally." (I should have said figuratively).

Oh well. Live and learn. Of course this pales in comparison to my favorite recent mistake in the presidential campaign. On the April 16th 2008 broadcast of Morning Joe on MSNBC, it was reported that, "Obama literally, you know, lit the crowd on fire." If that were true, I'm wondering why that guy is still in the race, let alone about to wrap up the nomination.

Seminary - 1/3 Done

The semester is over, and I'm back on the blog for a week before summer Hebrew starts. I'm not feeling ambitious enough to attempt a full retrospective of this year in school, but here are some stream-of-consciousness highlights.

Overall, it has been fantastic. I honestly can't think of many negatives from my time here. Classes have been great, I've gotten to read great books, and we've made some really good friends. Most importantly, I feel like I'm actually accomplishing what I came here for - I'm being prepared for the work of the ministry. In this respect (among many others), Covenant has really lived up to its billing. It is a place that is serious about training pastors.

Of course, it is also a place that is serious about academics. Here's my quick list of top 5 books I've read for class this year (excluding ones I've read before):
1) Mission of God by Christopher Wright
2) Not the Way It's Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
3) Truth with Love: The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer by Brian Follis
4) Perfecting Ourselves to Death by Richard Winter
5) Good to Great by Jim Collins

(Looking at this list, it is clear to me that it is heavily skewed towards books I've read more recently and towards ones that relate to issues I'm going through right now. So be it. If you want the full list of mDiv books from this year, click here.)

This has been a boring post, but I'm also very tired right now. Maybe I'll have something better to say some day.

April Madness

My last post was April 6th. What happened to this month? I didn't even have time to congratulate my brother on his second consecutive victory in our March Madness competition. Way to go Darin!

For those of you who have given up on me ever posting again, take heart. School is slowing down a little bit, which means that I will have more time and brain power available to write. For now, let me just say that my first year at Covenant has been a blast, and thank you to everyone for your prayers.

Go Tigers!

I have a lot riding on the game tomorrow. I am the only one who still has the possibility of getting any more points (lots of you were disappointed by UNC), and if Memphis wins then I will jump up 5 places to tie Darin for first. If they lose, I will be stuck at 6th. Go Tigers!